Noah’s Ark

The story of Noah’s Ark is one of the more disturbing of the well known stories in the Bible.  The idea of a deity that would wipe out all but eight humans in order to knock back (but not eliminate) evil in the world… It’s a disturbing story on so many levels.  James McGrath takes a look at the question “can Noah’s Ark be Savaged?”  He says

The best way to make sense of the story is to show how it, like all the Biblical literature, reflects the development of human thinking about God that has led us to where we are today, rather than as static proclamations of things one ought to believe about God.

People tend to focus on the “good” part of the story – the promise not to do it again, the covenant with Noah.  But that requires you to set aside the depiction of God as an abusive parent, an Andrea Yates, as James suggests.

(You should also read his previous post “God’s Wife“.)