>>Makes this anthropologist wonder how the analogy clarity and order are to democracy as obscurity and arbitrariness are to absolute monarchy became
commonsense?Think of The two literary forms of God represented in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.
In Genesis 1, the first God -- Elohim in Hebrew, a.k.a. God -- makes man and woman, blesses them, and tells them to fill the earth and master it.
In Genesis 2, the second God -- Yahweh Elohim in Hebrew, a.k.a. the LORD God -- puts Adam in the middle of a garden with a trap at its center. Because Adam is lonely, LORD God makes woman. Then the LORD God lies about the purpose of the tree. The serpent tells the truth about the tree. Eve bites the apple, and Old Nasty Pants clothes them and gives them the heave-ho.
The second form of God -- Yahweh Elohim -- has the character of a tyrant: immense power coupled with unpredictability, tricky promises, and sudden wrath. LORD God doesn't like to talk to women, brings about punishments disproportionate to the offense, even wagers with Satan over Job's faith.
Talk about caprice wedded to power! Thus does the analogy "arbitrariness is to absolute monarchy" become commonsense.
Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
