Osler's Razor

Today, I am giving the sermon at First Covenant Church in Minneapolis at 9:30-- please come if you are able. The passage for the sermon is the first 16 verses of Genesis, which tells the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve (there is a third one described, Seth, from whom we are said to descend).

I don't view this story as literally true. Jesus told parables all the time, and great myths hold deep truths. This is one that is particularly complicated once you look closely at it, and there is a lot to consider in those few words.

My dad lent me his old and marked-up copy of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, which Steinbeck himself considered his most important work. It's no secret that the book is rooted in Genesis-- it's right there in the title, given that Cain leaves the Garden of Eden eastward--and at one point there is even an explicit exegesis of translation issues in the very passage I am looked at today in the sermon. I love it when things fall together like that, layers of meaning like phyllo dough, one atop the other.

We'll see what I can make of it all...