Lectures - The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is one of the more interesting stories in the Book of Genesis. The human race, united by a single language, makes a common cause to raise a tower to reach the heavens. Yahweh puts an end to their efforts by confounding their languages. The story is thus an etiological myth that proposes an explanation for why different peoples of the world speak different languages. The story also provided an explanation for great, ruined cities in southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq). By the time Genesis was compiled, its writers were thousands of years more removed from the beginnings of the Sumerian civilization than we are from the Biblical authors. Nevertheless, the Babel story is also intriguing because it’s uniquely unconnected to the stories of the patriarchs. Although set after the Flood, and before the story of Abraham, neither Noah nor any of the line of the patriarchs to Abraham has a part in the Babel story. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the text itself in its Biblical context, at potential antecedents, as well as the story’s cultural legacy. Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions of our lecturer during the Q&A. This lecture is part of our series exploring Christianity and the Bible from an academic perspective through history, mythology, archaeology, theology, and biblical studies. In this presentation we focus on Your generous support allows us to offer these lectures at no cost. Please consider making a donation (tax deductible in the US and Canada): ❤️ https://www.centreplace.ca/donate ️