What if the Tower of Babel story in the Bible is not really about the origins of languages?
What if it’s also not about a tower and had nothing originally to do with Babylon?
Podcast with Dr.Boyd discussing his new book
In Babel: Political Rhetoric of a Confused Legacy Sam Boyd explores evidence for redefining what this passage in Genesis 11:1-9 might have meant in its ancient context, and how it became a story about language with the editing of the first five books of the Bible. Even more, he frames this new reading with a critical study of the intellectual history of the passage, examining how it has served a particular function within the nation-state and modern nationalism and what a new reading might offer for understanding the political nature of the story.
"It's rare that a scholar can navigate so deftly from the ancient settings of a biblical text's composition through the many stages of its reception, including our contemporary moment. But that is exactly what Samuel Boyd does in this absorbing and readable account of the Tower of Babel story. Moving among language, religion, politics, art, popular culture, and more, Babel accomplishes precisely what it intends: to explain the enduring influence of a biblical story and what that influence reveals about its many interpreters. This is a book for anyone interested in the Bible and its continued relevance." --Jeffrey Stackert, University of Chicago Divinity School