0023 Kulikovsky’s section on biblical inerrancy opens questions of epistemology. Epistemology concerns Scripture and the problem of interpretation.  Epistemology is the logos (word) of episteme (knowledge).

I have already encountered two contrasts.  The first is truth versus falsehood, or correct versus incorrect.  The second is truth versus deception, or honest versus deceptive.

0024 How does the talking serpent in Genesis 2:4-4 fit into this picture?

Science can prove that serpents do not speak, except, of course, for some of my old bosses and co-workers, if you catch my drift.  This proof goes into B1b.

Also, the appearance of the talking serpent in the stories of Adam and Eve must be figurative, not real.  But, the text depicts a real character.  So, the talking serpent is a fiction… er… deception.  This conjecture goes into B2b.

0025 What happens when I consider the hypothesis of the first singularity?

Well, the Genesis serpent ends up crawling on its belly.  This means that it does not have hands or feet. 

Also, the mythical talking serpent in Genesis misleads the naive Eve.

It does so using speech-alone talk.

0026 As it turns out, the hypothesis of the first singularity proposes that civilization is potentiated by a change in the way that humans talk, from hand-speech talk (two fully fledged ways of talking in a single language) to speech-alone talk (where hand-speech talk loses the hand component).  The semiotic qualities of hand-speech and speech-alone talk are radically different.  The change in semiotic qualities explains the potentiation of unconstrained social complexity.

Plus, the first culture to practice speech-alone talk is the Ubaid of southern Mesopotamia.

0027 Oh, suddenly, the story of the temptation of Eve makes more sense.

If the serpent has no hands, then it cannot practice hand-speech talk.  Instead, the way the serpent talks makes it an exemplar of speech-alone talk (B1b).

This implies that the talking serpent is both figurative and real.

Plus, the talking serpent implies that speech-alone talk associates to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  After all, that tree is the creature’s hangout. 

0028 What else?

Presumably, hand-speech talk, which starts with the first anatomically modern humans over 200,000 years ago, associates to the tree of life.

0029 Yes, the semiotic differences between hand-speech talk and speech-alone talk are substantial.  They are so great that the speech-alone talking serpent does not represent the traditions of hand-speech talk, characteristic of the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.  Instead, the serpent draws Eve into the world that God commanded her not to enter, the world-building milieu of speech-alone talk. 

Oh, speech-alone talk is the defining character of our current Lebenswelt.

0030 Here is a picture of the greimas square.

Consider the sequence of blogs for January 2022, at www.raziemah.com, titled, Looking at Mark Smith’s Book (2019) “The Genesis of Good and Evil”.

0031 From the last few blogs, I show that the propositions that the Evangelical Theological Society affirm and deny, in 1978, may be placed into a greimas square.

Initially, this greimas square allows me to see that modern evolutionary science, before 2005, denies the Society’s affirmations and affirms its denials.  So, either the Evangelical Theological Society or evolutionary theorists are correct.

Before 2005, the greimas square, even with modifications, represents a standoff.  The relational structure cannot hold, unless modern evolutionary science comes up with a new discovery, such as the hypothesis of the first singularity.

0032 With the hypothesis of the first singularity, the science-oriented stances that Christian theologians once denied for good reason (B1 and B2), may be now rendered as contrasts to affirmed theological propositions (A1 and A2).

Such a change marks a new age of understanding, hence the title in the following diagram.

0033 Here is a picture of the sensible construction of biblical Genesis 1-11.

0034 Allow me to compare this to the original diagram.

The content-level normal context changes from writing_3a, which implies that there are authors, to composing_3a, which implies that there are people who are reciting the stories of witnesses_2a, reporting on real events_1a as best they can.  Scribes eventually record these recitals_2a.  These texts are then assembled… or… “redacted” into the canonical text.

Thus, as affirmed by Articles IX and XII of The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, the biblical text is correct and honest_2b.

0035 Certainly, there are intended messages_1a, but these are locked within the realness of the biblical witness_1a.  The history that Genesis 2:4-11 portrays shows a world rife with falsehood and deception, both of which are associated with “world building”.  The intended message of the witnesses_1a concerns what is going on during the Ubaid, the Uruk and the Sumerian Dynastic archaeological periods of southern Mesopotamia.

0036 The situation-level normal context remains the same, but now reading_3b is more evocative, because a scientific notion is now entangled with the biblical text. 

The hypothesis of the first singularity does not deny what the Evangelical Theological Society affirms_1b.  Yet, the hypothesis contrasts with their affirmations.

0037 Now, the truth and honesty that is presumed by theological interpretation_2b, plays out against the backdrop of the “world building” in the Ubaid, Uruk and Sumerian archaeological periods of southern Mesopotamia_1b.  The reader can envision Genesis 2:4-11 as an insider’s view of the emergence of civilization in the milieu of the first culture practicing speech-alone talk.

0038 So, what happens to the scientific acolyte, who fashions the talking serpent in Genesis 2:4-4 as scientifically false, even though the serpent talks in precisely the same manner as someone who fashions himself a scientific skeptic?

There is more than one way to deny the Evangelical Theological Society’s affirmations in Articles IX and XII.

0039 Kulikovsky elaborates in the section titled, “The influence of postmodernism.”

Yes, “postmodernism” is a bell, clanging for modernists to flee the conflagration of their so-called “scientific” world building and run into new paradigms of falsehood and deception.  Perhaps, we are entering a new age, The Age of Triadic Relations, where paradigms built on the manipulation and elevation of spoken words are revealed to be… well… as old as Adam and Eve.

0040 Kulikovsky starts with Soren Kierkegaard (7613-7655 U0′), who gets the bell tolling with the claim that true knowledge is completely subjective.  Later, postmodern existentialism elevates the claim to a limiting condition, where it is not possible to express absolute truth in propositional form.

Of course, this limiting condition violates the terms of um… itself.

0041 Never mind that. 

What postmodern existentialists propose is that it is not possible to express absolute truth in propositional form (B1), in um… speech-alone talk, so the Bible cannot be the inspired word of God (denial of A1).

Why?

Interpretations based on biblical inerrancy presume that absolute truth may be expressed in propositional form.  Therefore, traditional interpreters of the Bible are deceiving themselves (B2 is denial of A2).

0042 So, if the intention of the biblical authors is to express absolute truth, then their propositions may asymptotically approach, but never attain, the theoretical limit.

That suggests that the greimas square of hermeneutics, as modified by the hypothesis of the first singularity, cannot reach the theoretical limit set by postmodern existentialists.

0043 To me, this sounds a lot like that divine command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I ask, “What is wrong with that tree?”

Isn’t knowledge a good thing?

0044 Well, what about the knowledge of the proposition that no spoken proposition can express absolute truth?

Can this proposition express absolute truth?

Of course, by self-acclamation, it cannot.

0045 What does it express?

Perhaps, the proposition expresses the manipulation of spoken language in order to gain some sort of advantage.

0046 Ah, the hypothesis of the first singularity produces a scientific contrast (B1b) that suggests that the postmodern existentialist proposition can be made, but…

0047 Kulikovsky next turns to historical-grammatical exegesis as the proper method for reading the biblical text.  Historical-grammatical exegesis takes into account the historical context and literary form.  Articles XIV and XX of the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy concerns this type of exegesis.

0048 Article XIV affirms the historical realism of Scripture.  The biblical record of events, discourses and sayings, as they are presented in a variety of appropriate literary forms, corresponds to historical fact (that is, reality).

It denies that such events, discourses and sayings were invented by the biblical writers (or by the traditions that they incorporated into the biblical text).

0049 Article XX affirms the biblical truth, as opposed to history, science and natural history.  The Bible speaks truth when it touches matters pertaining to nature, history and other topics.  God is the author of all truths, biblical and extrabiblical.  Sometimes extrabiblical views may contribute to clarifying interpretation of Scripture.

It denies that extrabiblical views and materials disprove the teachings of Scripture and hold priority over it.

0050 Here is a picture.

0051 I wonder, “Do these constitute another greimas square?”

0052 The key (A1) is the affirmation of the historical reality of the biblical record.  Because of this, the literary traditions of historic times must be taken into consideration.  For example, if Noah’s flood story and Utnapishtim’s flood story expressed radically different literary motifs, then one could say that one derived from the other or that the two stories pertain to different historical events.  But, this is not the case.  Both stories share similar literary motifs of the ancient Near East.

0053 B1 contrasts with A1.  B1 is the theologically unacceptable claim that the traditions incorporated in the Old Testament, as well as other mythic stories of the ancient Near East, invented certain events, discourses and sayings.  Therefore, they do not correspond to historical reality.

0054 The contrast between A1 and B1 offers an interesting paradox.

The literary motifs of Genesis 1-11 are the same as literary motifs of the ancient Near East.  Since these literary motifs are historical, there is strong reason to suggest that they pertain to the same historic events.

At the same time, the phantasmagorical quality of the origin stories of the ancient Near East suggests that narrative elements are invented.  They are invented, but not from whole cloth.  The fact that two fairly independent literary traditions portray similar events is good reason to say that they are not complete fictions.

So, the inventiveness characteristic of the literary traditions of the ancient Near East enrich this contrast, B1, and reveal that the Evangelical Theological Society is really against the implication that ancient inventiveness means “not true”.  The origin stories of the ancient Near East are not total fabrications.  They are memorials of things that took place in the past.

0055 A2 is the contradiction of B1 and the complement of A1.  A2 is the theological affirmation that the biblical witness of nature, history and behavior is true and honest.

0056 B2 is the contrast to A2, the contradiction to A1 and the complement of B1.  The Evangelical Theological Society denies that extrabiblical material can disprove the Scriptures, or even, has priority over Scripture.  Yet, they couch that denial with the caveat that extrabiblical material cannot be fully ignored.  After all, the preferred style of exegesis is called, “historical and literary”.

0057 So, after the denials are modified into affirmations that are vulnerable to denial, because they may be carried too far, Articles XIV and XX yield a greimas square.

0058 The greimas square in the prior blog contains two paradoxes.

0059 For A1 and B1, here is the paradox.

Genesis 1-11 participates in the historical reality of the literary traditions of the ancient Near East.  These literary traditions present fantastical elements that, to us, appear to be inventions.  They are inventions.  But, they are not made out of whole cloth.  They describe natural processes, historical events and social behaviors that cannot be captured by spoken language, except through phantasmagorical scenes, for a variety of reasons.

One of these reasons is that the semiotic qualities of speech-alone talk potentiate “world building” processes that cannot be captured in the spoken language at the time.  How can someone inside a historic process tell the story of the historic process from an outsider’s point of view?

Indeed, what is the nature of witness?

0060 For A2 and B2, here is the paradox.

The biblical witness is preserved by a living tradition. When the Bible is redacted, perhaps during and shortly after the Babylonian exile, no one knows that those hills, out in the middle of the desert, contain royal archives, holding stories very similar to those that the redactors are working with.

The extrabiblical materials include cuneiform tablets, excavated and translated by archaeologists.  These tablets come from royal libraries of long-buried capitals.  These tablets serve as the subject matter for constructing the literary forms of the ancient Near East.

0061 Kulikovsky clarifies this greimas square by mentioning a favorite theme of liberal theologians: cultural accommodation.

Without a doubt, the stories of Genesis 2:4-11 correspond to the archaeological periods of the Ubaid, the Uruk and the Sumerian Dynastic of southern Mesopotamia.

From all appearances, the tradition of Seth promulgates stories, from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel, from a point of view standing deep inside of the above progression of cultures.  Then, Abraham and Sarah step out of that insider tradition.

The so-called “Seth hypothesis” is discussed in chapter 13C of An Archaeology of the Fall.

So, what does the term, “cultural accommodation” really mean?

0062 Genesis 1-11 is properly interpreted by considering extrabiblical materials from the ancient Near East.  Kulikovsky quotes Paul Seely in this regard.  Genesis 1 reflects the cosmology of the second millennium BC.  Modern science may produce a more accurate picture of the universe.  But, that does not invalidate (or take priority over) the theological message of Genesis 1.  However, it does suggest that Genesis 1 is a temporal concession to the people at that time.

0063 Hmmm.  Does the term, “temporal concession”, key into B2 in the following greimas square.

It sure does, because Genesis 2.4-11 is an insider’s view of the formation of civilization in southern Mesopotamia.

0064 Does the intercalation of Genesis into the society and history of southern Mesopotamia  (B2) contrast with the truth and honesty of the biblical witness of nature, history and behavior (A2)?

There are two ways to say, “Yes.”

0065 Yes, theological liberals think that cultural accommodation (B2) contradicts the idea that the biblical record conveys historical reality (A1).  Plus, extrabiblical material from the ancient Near East (B2) complements the idea that the fantastic elements and narratives are inventions (B1).

0066 Yes, the idea that Genesis 2:4-11 is an insider’s view of the Ubaid, the Uruk and the Sumerian Dynastic (B2), contrasts with a plain view of the biblical portrayal of nature, history, and human behavior as true and honest (A2), but the idea does not invalidate biblical truth and honesty.  The idea (B2) contradicts the notion of historical reality (A1), because witness from within a historical event cannot describe the totality of the event, even though such witness can describe the character of the event.  For this reason, the inventiveness of ancient literary traditions (B1) can be seen as necessary, because the character of events is more important than the mundane details of the occurrence.

0067 The word, “invention”, is under contention.

In one use, primitive people invent their stories out of whole cloth, so the stories are both incorrect and deceptive.

In the other use, inventiveness is necessary because spoken words fail during civilizational crises.   Mythical constructions attempt to capture the processes where one social reality dissolves and another coagulates in the crucible of speech-alone talking southern Mesopotamia.

0068 The former use of the word, “invention”, is condemned by the Evangelical Theological Society.  The latter is not.

0069 Does the term, “cultural accommodation”, cohere with the idea that Genesis 2:4-11 is an insider’s view of the Ubaid, the Uruk, and the Sumerian Dynastic.

0070 How does one describe events that are potentiated by the semiotic qualities of speech-alone talk?

This is one of the challenges facing folk within the emerging civilization of southern Mesopotamia.

Things happen that no one expects.  The world of the Ubaid gets more and more complicated.  Innovation follows innovation.  Villages turn into towns.  Towns expand into cities.  The Ubaid becomes wealthier, more powerful, more hierarchical, more specialized, more unequal and, of course, more deranged.

0071 The hypothesis of the first singularity challenges the modern… er… postmodern imagination.

How do we imagine the social changes that follow the potentiation of labor and social specialization by speech-alone talk?

0072 The semiotics of speech-alone talk is radically different than the semiotics of hand-speech talk.  As discussed in The First Singularity and Its Fairy Tale Trace, the early Ubaid practices speech-alone talk, at a time when all the surrounding cultures practice hand-speech talk.  But, that is not the case for long.  The surrounding cultures see what the Ubaid can do.  They drop the hand-talk component of their hand-speech talk in imitation.  Then, weirdly, they also start to become more and more complicated.

0073 No one in the Ubaid is prepared for the way that speech-alone talk works.  No one is accustomed to the deception that speech-alone permits, in contrast to hand-speech talk.  

Well, I suppose, after a number of generations, some people within the Ubaid culture start to figure out that speech-alone talk can be used to deceive, even while making apparently correct statements.  Plus, these deceptions lead to exposure. Exposure ends in disaster.

0074 How so?

We project meaning, presence and message into spoken words.  Then, we construct artifacts that validate our projection.  When the artifacts are working, everything seems fine.  When the artifacts stop working, we are exposed.  Everything that our projections tell us is true turns out to be wrong.

0075 Hmmm.  Does any of this sound like Genesis 2.4-4?

0076 Of course, the science always changes.  The revelations in Scripture do not.

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is less than two centuries old.  Certain Christian doctrines have remained unchanged for twenty centuries.

0077 What is the problem?

Is there a problem with highly educated experts claiming that scientific knowledge is more believable than the book of Genesis?

Wait until they hear about the hypothesis of the first singularity.

Is the problem that there is a demonic serpent hiding in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Modern secular academics have been cultivating that tree for centuries.

0078 Hermeneutics is key.  The problem lies in how to interpret Scripture.  The reader_3b must interpret_2b the biblical text_1b, using hermeneutics and exegesis_1b.

Kulikovsky relies on the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, promulgated by the Evangelical Theological Society, in order to address these problems.

The Society affirms the good and denies the bad.

Yet, the bad turns out to be affirmations that are vulnerable to denial, because they may be taken so far as to negate their corresponding affirmations.  The denials contain views that must be held in abeyance and regarded with an eye towards mischief.

0079 Yet, the hypothesis of the first singularity offers a new opportunity.  Devotees of scientism will find no harbor in saying that scientific knowledge disproves or has priority over the Scriptures.  Those who want to limit Biblical authority to religious themes, and who offer recipes to separate the theological message from the worldviews of the ancient Near East, find no solace.

Why?

Genesis 2.4-11 is an insider’s view of the development of unconstrained social complexity in the Ubaid, the Uruk and the Sumerian Dynastic archaeological periods.

0080 The text itself is a feature of God’s revelation.

0081 The denials may be modified into contrasts that are vulnerable to being misconstrued and placed in greimas squares, along with their affirmations.

0082 Articles IX and XII yield one greimas square.

0083 Articles XIV and XX yield another greimas square.

0085 The scientific hypothesis of the first singularity changes the ground beneath Kulikovsky’s brief and concise overview.

Yet, the grounds of hermeneutics and exegesis remain the same.

Kulikovsky concludes that the difficultly lies, not so much with understanding the teaching of Scripture, but believing it to be real.