23 10, 2019

Some questions about Cain and Abel

By |2019-10-23T22:19:22-07:00October 23rd, 2019|Thoughts|

Who was the better person, Cain or Abel? It is possible to see the tale of Cain and Abel in a different light. Cain became a farmer. This is very difficult work. Abel opted to be a shepherd, arguably a lazy activity. Why does the Bible seem to prefer Abel? Why did Abel think that [...]

2 05, 2018

An atheist’s humorous irreverent interpretation of the Bible

By |2018-05-02T04:13:49-07:00May 2nd, 2018|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

Jose Saramago’s (1922-2010) last book Cain is a delightful, frequently funny, heretical, mocking, feverishly anti-God, retelling of the early books of the Hebrew Bible. He is the 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. According to Saramago’s book, no snake spoke to Eve in Eden and persuaded her to eat the forbidden apple; snakes [...]

22 06, 2014

An unusual interpretation of Cain and Abel’s sacrifice

By |2014-06-22T13:39:49-07:00June 22nd, 2014|Thoughts|

                                           An unusual interpretation of Cain and Abel’s sacrifice   Most people know no more about the Bible than what they learned as children or what they heard their clergy tell them in a sermon, which was not designed to reveal what the Bible says but some moral lesson the clergy feels the [...]

12 07, 2012

What really happened to Cain?

By |2012-07-12T13:39:05-07:00July 12th, 2012|Thoughts|

By Israel Drazin   People think that biblical narratives are clear and easily understandable, and that the explanations of the stories offered in clerical sermons or written in ancient documents such as the Talmud, Midrashim (imaginative elaborations of the Bible), and medieval commentaries are true. Actually neither idea is true. Good literature contains ambiguities and [...]

25 08, 2011

An irreverent version about Cain

By |2011-08-25T13:51:50-07:00August 25th, 2011|Book Reviews|

Jose Saramago’s (1922-2010) last book Cain is a delightful, frequently funny, heretical, mocking, feverishly anti-God, retelling of the early books of the Hebrew Bible. He is the 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Adam and Eve’s son Cain kills his bother Abel after God accepted the latter’s sacrifice and ignored Cain’s, despite Cain’s [...]

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