Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 09:18:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerry Friedman 
Subject: RE: (urth) God in the Machine


--- Michael Straight  wrote:
> 
> Re: Garden of Eden:
> 
> If Whorl=Garden and Pas=God, then Outsider=???
> 
> RE: knowledge of good and evil:
> 
> 'Knowledge' here should be read as (if you know Spanish) 'conocer'
> rather
> than 'saber' (to be familiar with vs. to be aware of).  I know a lot
> about
> Bill Clinton, but I don't know him.  The same Hebrew word is used later
> in
> Genesis to say Adam knew his wife Eve and she gave birth.
> 
> So Adam and Eve (presumably) knew the difference between good and evil,
> but they had not had experience with (knowledge of) good and evil.

Just as a clarification: I don't remember any such distinction existing
in Hebrew.  The verb lada`at (root yd`)is used for both factual
knowledge and familiarity.  Of course, this is consistent with the
possibility that conocer/connaitre may be the correct interpretation
in this passage, or a useful one for modern Christians (and Jews and
Muslims?).

-- 
Jerry Friedman

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