Hancock, who holds a doctorate in Romantic and Victorian literature from Purdue University, explained how the incest taboo, while widespread across the world, is not entirely universal. All we get is people making assumptions about the text they are reading.”Īfter a round of applause from the audience, Stephen Hancock, an associate professor of English and the English Department head, got up to speak about incest in contemporary history and literature. Do we assume that Adam and Eve were brought into a world empty of another population, even though the scriptures never specify? There are even texts in the Pearl of Great Price that might indicate the flood was smaller in scope, which matches up better with geological evidence. “A lot of you growing up might have assumed Lehi and his family arrived on an empty continent, even though the scriptures never say it was empty. We have to be really careful about the assumptions we bring to a lot of the scriptural text. “I recently attended a conference that focused on the topic of reconciling evolution and the gospel. What was offensive in ancient Israel may not have been offensive where Abraham lived.”īowen went on to talk about the idea of how man came to be, and if Adam and Eve really were the first two people on Earth, their children would have had to marry and have children with one another to propagate the human species. “What you need to understand from an anthropological-sociological point of view, is that what is considered incest in one culture isn’t always considered incest in another culture. They came from Ur of the Chaldees, most likely in what is now Syria. “Ancient Israel would have had an issue with the Abraham-Sara relationship, but here’s the thing, Abraham and Sara were not Israelites. He then addressed the controversy surrounding Abraham and Sara, who were in fact half-siblings, yet conceived Isaac. “The text is pointing out how unseemly this is. They then have children by him.”īowen was quick to remind the students in the audience how the biblical text does not look favorably upon the actions committed by Lot’s daughters. “When Sodom and Gomorrah are annihilated, it’s clear that the mindset, as told within the story, the daughters see no other way to continue their line. Bowen, however, pointed out at the moment, the daughters of Lot believe the world had come to an end. In Genesis 19, after Lot and his family escape from Sodom and Gomorrah, he only has two daughters, who then get him drunk and have sexual relations with him. Bowen said this is why Leviticus forbids many types of incest, as the act of family having intercourse with each other would break apart Israel as a community. “There were strong social structures in ancient Israel that were emphasized by Leviticus, which is full of statutes meant to hold Israel together as a community and allow them to subsist,” he explained. The biblical text plays on the meaning of that name and Moab to imply that the beginning of those nations came from an unseemly relationship,” Bowen said, as he wrote the names of Ammon and Moab on the whiteboard, and pointed out their common linguistic root. “The name of the nation of Ammon, in the Bible, is a name that implies kinship. Bowen began by saying “Genesis 19 is an ideological story about the origin of Israel’s neighbors to the east and south, the nation of Ammon. Zeph McKee, a junior majoring in political science from Montana, asked why Lot’s daughters had sexual relations with their father in the aftermath of Sodom and Gomorrah, as recorded in Genesis 19. Beginning his lecture, he cautioned the audience packed into the cramped McKay 175 classroom to look at the events through the lens of the ancient Israelites who lived during the time these acts of incest occurred. Bowen holds a doctorate in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of America. In a series of questions and answers during the panel, professors spoke about how incest had been depicted in the scriptures, through literature and addressed the religious and scientific points of view.Īssistant Professor Matthew Bowen, one of the three panel speakers, was the first to speak on the topic of incest, particularly how it related to accounts of it in the scriptures. They also cautioned people to not make assumptions about history and cultural practices based on what people know today. Panelists said while incest today is viewed as negative and genetically dangerous, it was historically and culturally acceptable based on circumstances. As part of a genetics interdisciplinary panel discussion, professors of English literature, religion and science offered their thoughts about incest as it related to their fields of study on Sept.
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