A religious academic has kicked up a sacrilegious storm by saying the Biblical creation myth actually intends to say that God created Eve out of Adam’s penis bone.
The claim comes from a book called "What Really Happened In The Garden Of Eden" by Professor Ziony Zevit from the American Jewish University in Maryland. The book was published in 2013, although has recently reemerged and riled up Christians after a review in the September/October issue of the Biblical Archeology Review.
The theory came to Zevit after translating and studying the Hebrew text of Adam and Eve in the Genesis story of the Old Testament. Zevit believes the Hebrew word "tsela" does not translate as "rib," but instead can be understood to mean "limbs sticking out sideways from an upright human body."
As men and women do actually have the same amount of ribs (and any other sideways sticking limbs, for that matter), Zevit believes this is how the ancient Israelites attempted to explain the uniquely boneless human penis.
Human males are one of the few species of mammals who don’t have a baculum (a penis bone). Bears, bats, cats, walruses and even our closest living relative – the chimpanzee – all have the bone.
Much of modern Biblical study attempts to use language, poetics, linguistics and literary theory to understand how the stories were perceived in its original context. Despite this, many have taken Zevit’s claim with great offense.
"I write to express my disappointment with your magazine. I wish to cancel my subscription," a reader of the Biblical Archeology Review said, reported The Daily Mail.
"That is plainly not a Bible teaching," said another. "I do not need and will not read articles that damage my faith or attempts to cause me to doubt what I know is the truth from the Bible."
Another reviewer said the theory was "totally unconvincing," "laughable" and "outlandish." They added: "As Jesus scathingly said: 'You blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.' (Matthew 23:24)."
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