#There are linguisitic historical and political reasons for why those text are written in that way and are discussed (or not) now

[uncleasriel]

Perhaps I'm just getting older, but surely this is just another "Atheist learns the bible deals in rather than literal" and "ethical systems change over 4000 years" bit. I hate to dunk on folks educating themselves on matters of culture, but I've hear take like this waaaay back whn I tried listening to Dragons In Genesis.

Listening to 20-something prattle on about about how Genesis "ripped off" Babylonian and Assyrian mythic traditions and framing this like the ancient Israelites tried to sell off-label The Avengers action figures (instead of doing what distinct but geographically close cultural groups have always done, e.g. exchange stories) pisses me off. I'm sympathetic because so many of these traditions, like the Catholicism in this young man's case, lean hard on select passages and encourage rote memorization and don't teach broader context or how religious authority colors transmission. But Oh my God these takes feel trite.

Please, I implore you - listen to Dan Maklelan if you want a TikTok guy talking about religion. Rather than relishing in the shock of "Holy shit, like Us!" and just stopping there, you'll get soft-spoken guy in a comfy (and usually comic book themed) t-shirt explaining about the linguistic history of Hebrew and theological changes made from when Genesis was written to now.

Plus, he also emphasizes moderate, anti-hystierical readings of the biblical texts, encouraging critical readings as opposed to the politicized agendas that you probably got in your faith tradition. He's an extremely useful antidote to rhetorical nonsense and a level head who'll not merely marvel at the odd things you find in biblical exegesis, but explain why.

Tim Ahern Art on TikTok

Part 1 of Tim's series where he reads and critiques the Bible. This is a must-watch, it is insightful and hilarious.