Tao Te Ching and Genesis 11 38

Tao Te Ching and Genesis The Book of Genesis, the first book in the bible is generally considered to be in the genre of Narrative. Tradition attributes the writing of the Book of Genesis to Moses in roughly, 1400 B.C.E., but this theory is almost certainly incorrect.

More current scholarship suggests that Genesis was not written as a single complete and whole document all at one point, but rather was pasted together from at least four separate documents, the earliest of which probably dates from no earlier than 800 B.C.E.

As with all dates surrounding the provenance of biblical documents within the Old Testament, it is very difficult indeed to determine the actual date of composition and scholarly disagreements about the time of its composition result in the formulation of proposed dates of composition that vary by literally hundreds of years. Genesis was written in Hebrew, although there are a few Aramaic words (Aramaic was an ancient language, which is very similar to Hebrew although still its own language) in it as well, we believe.

In terms of its audience, it is usually contended that Genesis was supposed to act as a sort of history of the descent of the early patriarchs in Judaism, so its intended audience would be other religious practitioners that were curious about the origins of their religious as well as ethnic lineage. It is difficult to say exactly when Genesis was "translated" since the Bible has indeed been translated so many times in so many different languages throughout history.

The Septuagint, which is the earliest known Greek translation of the Bible allegedly made by Hellenistic Jews is typically dated to be around 250 B.C.E., and since this is the authoritative version of the bible of which no exact earlier translation exists, it is usually considered the starting date. The Tao Te Ching is, unlike the more narrative Book of Genesis, a collection of aphoristic sayings without any narrative at all.

It is traditionally attributed to the natural philosopher Lao Tzu in the 6th century B.C.E., but scholars almost universally deny this possibility and some even debate the existence of Lao Tzu as a historical personage. Likely, it was collected in the 3rd century B.C.E. from the sayings that formed an important oral tradition. It was written in Ancient Chinese characters and is a relatively short and modest work, being less than 5,000 characters long.

The intended audience would practitioners of the somewhat vague set of precepts that came to be regarded as philosophical Taoism, although from what is contained within the text itself, we can see that it was directed at governors of state and people seeking the secret to unlimited longevity as well as everyday people.

The Tao Te Ching is one of the more frequently translated religious texts in the history of the world, but the oldest version of it that we have written in ancient Chinese dates to roughly 200 B.C.E. Genesis, chapters 11-38, is basically a history of the descent of the patriarchs in Judaism. This section begins by relating the details of the construction and ensuing fall of the Tower of Babel, which is offered as an explanation for the multiplication of languages throughout the earth.

It continues to discuss the story of Abraham, his travels and his famous decision to sacrifice his son because God has told him, too. Afterwards, it continues to tell the story of his children and their exile from their homeland, ending at the beginning of the story of Joseph's appearance in Egypt.

The basic themes of this section highlight the involvement of God in worldly events, highlighting both the covenants that God makes with his chosen people and the aid that he offers them, as well as demonstrating God's capacity for vengeance, such as in the Tower of Babel episode. Paternity and the delineation of the lines of descent are major themes in this section as well, which are show by the long list describing the descendents of Abraham.

The Tao Te Ching tends to focus on a multiplicity of different things, but basically attempts to reconcile the world with properly attaining what is Tao by the proper balance of contradictory elements. It deals often with the issue of what makes a good proper leader by considering what qualities a good leader of a people or nation must have.

Here, the nation can be seen as a metaphor for the body or the individual, as well, and the proscriptions regarding governance can be seen as an allegorical way of maintaining one's own internal balance. The logic of the Tao often moves by contradiction -- objects, ideas, and qualities are defined negatively by what they are not in order to give the reader a new perspective on them.

The collection of saying also focuses on the ideas of longevity and continuity and the saying always return to the idea of the Tao as a fundamental principle that underlies and encompasses all of the other multiple forms of reality. The key ideas within Genesis were valuable to its assumed readership, because it defined their nationality and taught them about who they were and where it came from.

Also, the book reinforces the concept that the Jews are God's chosen people and that their God looks over them in all earthly interactions, but is also capable of great wrath and punishment for failure to meet obligations. In this didactic function, then, the text would be extremely useful for inculcating basic moral ideas and offering a concrete reason for why the law must be.