What if the Tower of Babel isn’t about a skyscraper at all, or trying to ‘reach God,’ but about language, thought and power? We begin our series with the strange little story - consisting of only nine verses- situated between the Noah episode and the great patriarch Abraham — and why it might be one of the few (if any) political passages in the Bible.

In the series, we’ll be taking a deep dive into Genesis 11 (1-9) the Babel story to open up its valuable teaching. We’ll discover the Bible’s take on free speech, freedom, and human flourishing. We’ll encounter God in sarcastic mode, and we’ll consider whether or not the people in the story were actually punished or not. We will consider how the story speaks so clearly to us today – with some surprising conclusions about the way we live and the choices we make. And the danger we are in.

In this episode, I want to develop Daniel Gordis’s arguments (previous episode) about nationhood further and ask a darker question about the Babel story. Can we understand the Babel story as a warning about totalitarianism? In the episode, e consider the commentary of two thinkers that deviate from traditional readings of the Babel story and demonstrate a highly sophisiticated warning from Genesis about totalising systems.

Images are AI adaptations of the author’s own sketches and drawings, in addition to adaptations from Breugel’s renowned paintings of the Tower of Babel.

Music is Stars and Laurels by Shane Ivers for Silverman Sounds.

https://www.silvermansound.com

Dr Caroline Kaye (The Sideways Thinker) presents this series aimed at non believers and believers alike exploring the West’s foundational texts - in order to see them anew. Dr Kaye holds graduate and post graduate qualifications in Religions and Theology from the University of Wales Trinity St. David and the University of Manchester She also holds an interdisciplinary PhD in Art History with Biblical themes from the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Books and references consulted or referred to in this episode:

James Austin, The Tower of Babel in Genesis: How the Tower of Babel Narrative Influences the Theology of Genesis and the Bible, Bloomington, Westbow Press, 2012.

Daniel Gordis, “The Tower of Babel and the Birth of Nationhood,” Azure 40 (Spring 2010) pp 19-36.

Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Shai Held, “People have Names: The Torah’s Takedown of Totalitarianism,” Mechon Hadar, mechonhadar.org/ShaiHeld, 2015.

Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom:Reading Genesis, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, (‘The Netziv’) Haamek Davar on Genesis, Vilna, c. 1879. Sefaria. sefaria.org.

Judy Klitsner, Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other, Philadelphia, JPS, 2009.

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