It is worth noting that, in the religious tradition from which the story originates, it is Moses who commits these previously-oral stories to writing, and does so in the context of a continued oral tradition which is intended to exist in parallel with the writings. On their own, the writings are not meant to be complete, both in order to limit more advanced teachings to those deemed ready for them, as well as to provide occasion to seek out the deeper meanings, for those with the right sort of character to do so.
This makes sense. The context I’m thinking of is my own life, where I come from a secular society with atheist parents, and merely had brief introductions to the stories from bible reading with parents and Christian education in school.
(Denmark is a weird society—few people are actually Christian or religious, so it’s basically secular, but legally speaking we are Christian and do not have separation between Church and state, so there are random fragments of Christianity we run into.)
It is worth noting that, in the religious tradition from which the story originates, it is Moses who commits these previously-oral stories to writing, and does so in the context of a continued oral tradition which is intended to exist in parallel with the writings. On their own, the writings are not meant to be complete, both in order to limit more advanced teachings to those deemed ready for them, as well as to provide occasion to seek out the deeper meanings, for those with the right sort of character to do so.
This makes sense. The context I’m thinking of is my own life, where I come from a secular society with atheist parents, and merely had brief introductions to the stories from bible reading with parents and Christian education in school.
(Denmark is a weird society—few people are actually Christian or religious, so it’s basically secular, but legally speaking we are Christian and do not have separation between Church and state, so there are random fragments of Christianity we run into.)
What? Nobody told me. Where did you learn this
This is the justification behind the talmud