One of the reasons for the God of the Old Testament having these sort-of-internal conversations with unclear or under-specified interlocutors and making partial exceptions to his own judgements is that some of these are monotheist redactions of earlier stories which involve councils or parliaments of deities. e.g. the Sumerian version of the flood story where the gods corporately decide to destroy humankind but Enki warns his favourite priest by pretending to talk to the wall.
The whole "old testament" binary opposition between G-d and Jesus, where G-d is vengeful and unloving and Jesus saves, is a particular Christian idea based in the "new" testament, not the Hebrew bible.
Anyway, there is loads of writing about this exchange with Abraham, in the Talmud and a lot of other places. This text is why some Jewish prayers require a quorum of ten adults. This is a particularly awkward number of people to gather. It's too big to just notify your friends - there's a bit of work involved getting everyone there. But it's not an impossible number. It's doable, but requires effort. Which is, of course, why it was chosen. Because it is larger than one family, it creates and maintains community cohesion. I would think it's doing the same thing in the text as it's doing now when friends of a person in mourning are trying to find ten people to turn up at a gravesite.
I have been thinking recently that I should reread "The Origin of Consciousness." I agree with your characterization, but we are seeing strange things in these days.
I know lots of people must have read "The Origin of Consciousness..." but I'm still surprised by the rare times I see it mentioned. It made a big impression on me when I read it around the time it came out, when I was in my 20's, and it's stuck with me ever since. Your characterization of it is spot on.
One part that's particularly memorable for me is the description of the tribe keeping their deceased ruler on the throne and each member of the tribe ascribing what we would call his/her internal monologue to the ruler--still hearing his commands.
One of the reasons for the God of the Old Testament having these sort-of-internal conversations with unclear or under-specified interlocutors and making partial exceptions to his own judgements is that some of these are monotheist redactions of earlier stories which involve councils or parliaments of deities. e.g. the Sumerian version of the flood story where the gods corporately decide to destroy humankind but Enki warns his favourite priest by pretending to talk to the wall.
The whole "old testament" binary opposition between G-d and Jesus, where G-d is vengeful and unloving and Jesus saves, is a particular Christian idea based in the "new" testament, not the Hebrew bible.
Anyway, there is loads of writing about this exchange with Abraham, in the Talmud and a lot of other places. This text is why some Jewish prayers require a quorum of ten adults. This is a particularly awkward number of people to gather. It's too big to just notify your friends - there's a bit of work involved getting everyone there. But it's not an impossible number. It's doable, but requires effort. Which is, of course, why it was chosen. Because it is larger than one family, it creates and maintains community cohesion. I would think it's doing the same thing in the text as it's doing now when friends of a person in mourning are trying to find ten people to turn up at a gravesite.
I have been thinking recently that I should reread "The Origin of Consciousness." I agree with your characterization, but we are seeing strange things in these days.
I know lots of people must have read "The Origin of Consciousness..." but I'm still surprised by the rare times I see it mentioned. It made a big impression on me when I read it around the time it came out, when I was in my 20's, and it's stuck with me ever since. Your characterization of it is spot on.
One part that's particularly memorable for me is the description of the tribe keeping their deceased ruler on the throne and each member of the tribe ascribing what we would call his/her internal monologue to the ruler--still hearing his commands.