Dear Martina,
Thank you for a very interesting question!
I am going to answer to you on the premises of my knowledge in
Religious Studies. However, despite my alias here, I do not see myself
as a guru for anything - religion is a matter of faith, and my answer
here might not cover all angles of human faith and its study.
The Bible as a Devine Text
==========================
Sitchin said, in an interview, that he believes Genesis heavily
influenced, when written, by Sumerian myths: "The first parts of
Genesis, from the tale of Creation through the tales of Adam and Eve,
the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, the Great Flood, Sodom and
Gomorrah, the Wars of the Kings in which Abraham was involved -- are
all based on earlier Sumerian records." (Source: Steve Russell "Will
Nibiru Return in 2003?" YOWUSA.COM, June 2002,
http://www.yowusa.com/Archive/June2002/NIBURU4/niburu4.htm).
Classical Christian theology maintains that the Bible is the result of
divine inspiration. Even before discussing certain facets of Sitchin's
thought (as reflected in "The 12th Planet"), this is seemingly a
contradiction - either Genesis was written at divine inspiration, or
it was inspired by the Sumerian beliefs. This might seem trivial in
relation to other contradictions that might arise after reading the
book, but actually it touches the heart of what might be
irreconcilable in Sitchin's theory: either the Bible and its content
are of divine nature, or it is the actions of supernatural aliens who
inspired the creation and the rest of the occurrences, and not one,
monotheistic, God.
Sitchin's pluralistic, UFOistic, version, views the Bible as one of
many versions of the story told by the Sumerians, which passed it on
to the Hebrew, and describes the actions of the "Anunnaki". The only
way to bridge this gap between the belief that the Bible is a divine
text (or a text produced by divine inspiration), is to claim that God
has inspired the Hebrews to proselyte the events done by the
"Anunnaki", called Nephilim in the Bible. This is a far reaching
interpretation of both the Bible and Sitchin's theories, since Sitchin
plainly rejects the Hebrew-Biblical Genesis as inspired by the
Sumerians, not as enjoying divine inspiration. It must be noted,
though, that Sitchin's text, like the classical Christian
interpretation of Genesis, describes both the events as historical
ones, not creation myths.
King James Bible as a Translation
=================================
One of Sitchin's main points, which calls for the contradictions
between his view and the one interpreted by classical scholars and
believers, is that many terms in the Bible were mistranslated from the
original Ancient Hebrew, and that in original Hebrew, these words
derive from Sumerian sources, and prove his theory of extra
terrestrial beings who created mankind.
The first solution that could reconcile the two is to admit, that
indeed, there were several mistakes or inaccuracies in the translation
of the Bible and in the formation of King James Bible. Some, including
Bible researchers, actually claim so (even when not accepting
Sitchin's interpretations of those disputed terms).
Creation of Man
===============
Man was created by the "Anunnaki", who arrived from planet Nibiru, who
are "gods" in the Sumerian sense, and not by God, as described in
Genesis. Moreover, the "Anunnaki" created man as part of "genetic
engineering" - mixing clay and blood.
Sitchin said, actually, that "If you read the relevant page in The
Twelfth Planet, you will see that I quote a Sumerian text that says
exactly how the Adam, the first Homo sapiens, was created.* You will
see that this is a process that today we call the test tube baby
process. I quote a text that describes Uranus and Neptune as Voyager 2
saw them in 1986 and 1989. 1 finally sat down and put together all
this scientific evidence, all these scientific discoveries to show how
they match and corroborate ancient knowledge." (Source: Zecharia
Sitchin http://www.crystalinks.com/sitchen.html - excerpts from a
lecture he gave).
Like any other of Sitchin's claims, this is also hard to reconcile
with the Bible. Some interpreters, when required to bridge between
their belief in creation and evolution, view evolution as described in
the story on the seven days of creation, while maintaining, that
Biblical creation is a literary description of the same process. Along
this line, it could be claimed that Sitchin's claims on the creation
of man, as servants of the gods, is described in the Bible, according
to Sitchin's interpretation. However, this doesn't leave the big
question of God versus gods - which could be reconciled with the claim
that the "Anunnaki" were God's messengers, sent from outer space.
This is an interpretation to an interpretation (to Sitchin's).
Moreover, Sitchin's claims regarding the origin of man ("Adam") as the
Acadian/Sumerian "Adamamu" are highly disputed:
http://www.facadenovel.com/SitchinAdam.pdf
The Nephilim
============
According to Sitchin, the Nephilim mentioned in the Bible are actually
not "giants", as translated in the King James Bible ("There were
giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons
of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to
them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" Gen
6:4) and as the classical interpretation claims, but "those who came
down from above", i.e. from heaven, in other words, extra-terrestrials
who arrived to earth (pp. 128 and onwards).
It should be mentioned, that Sitchin bases himself on an
interpretation to the Hebrew original. However, archaeologists and
linguists dissent this claim (see
http://www.facadenovel.com/sitchinerrors.htm#nephilim and a fuller
explanation at http://www.facadenovel.com/nephilim.pdf).
Sitchin claims here, that his all theory stemmed from this
interpretation of the Bible. The Nephilim, or "Anunnaki" in the
Sumerian mythology, are supposed to have had created human beings, not
God. Of course, if extra terrestrials arrived to earth, this could be
planned by God, and part of the creation of humans. However, this also
doesn't seem at first to reconcile with Genesis, and not even with the
claim that the Nephilim were sons of God (or gods), taking human
wives, as described in Genesis.
Babel Tower
===========
According to Gen. 11:2-8:
"And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found
a plane in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said to
one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And
they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they
said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach
unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the
city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord
said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and
this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them,
which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s
speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of
all the earth: and they left off to build the city."
Sitchin's interpretation is, again, different than that of the
orthodox one, and he concentrates himself in the actions of the
Anunnaki. They are the ones, according to his translation, who feared
that the builders of the tower will arrive to heaven. With the
interpretation of the Anunnaki as being God's messengers, this could
fit into the Biblical belief.
Noah, the Deluge
================
Sitchin relies on the assumption that many events described in the
Bible are similar to other ancient myths, such as the Gilgamesh myth.
This is quiet evident in the stories of Noah and of the Deluge.
Sitchin himself says, "Take the story of the Deluge and the
destruction of mankind and the saving of the seed of mankind, through
Noah and his ark. Enlil decided to use the opportunity of the
avalanche of water to destroy mankind, while Enki told Noah, (the
Sumerian Ziusudra) about what was coming. Enki taught Noah how to
build an ark and cover and seal it so it wouldn't be swamped, and Noah
was able to take himself and his family and others, according to the
Sumerians, into the ark and save the seed of mankind. Here you have a
conflict between two leaders of the Anunnaki. "(Source: Zecharia
Sitchin http://www.crystalinks.com/sitchen.html - excerpts from a
lecture he gave).
However, this dualistic perception of God (or gods) is foreign to the
Bible, and it is only in the Book of Job where you could also find
some distinctive douisms (God and the devil).
It could be claimed, that the two Anunnaki are actually two types of
revelations of God himself, which solves the dualistic dilemma. Again,
as mentioned before, this is an interpretation of Sitchin's theory,
which in itself is not monotheistic.
God and gods
============
This is the most irreconcilable point in Sitchin's theory. The
Anunnaki are actually "gods", and Sitchin points to the usage of the
term "Elohim" as evidence to the usage of plural in what is supposed
to be a monotheistic Bible. King James Bible refers, of course, to one
God.
Here, again, the scientific dispute over Sitchin's theory comes into
force. It is claimed, that Sitchin demonstrates lack of understanding
of Hebrew grammar, when he claims that "Elohim" is a plural word:
http://www.facadenovel.com/sitchinerrors.htm#elohim and
http://www.facadenovel.com/Elohim.pdf
The only way of reconciling between Stichin's stand and the Biblical
version is to claim that one of them should be interpreted in the
light of the other - either that King James Bible should be
interpreted in the light of Sitchin's theory regarding god and
creation - or that Sitchin's Anunnaki are actually God's messengers.
None of these attempts could be fully successful.
Further Sources
===============
King James Bible http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/kjv/
Sitchin, Zecharia. The 12th Planet. Avon Publishers: 1976.
Criticism of Sitchin's theological perception:
http://www.logoschristian.org/yahweh.html
Facade Novel http://www.facadenovel.com/ - harsh criticism of the
book, please note that despite some academic appearance, the site is
not academic.
Robert Todd Carroll, "Zecharia Sitchin and The Earth Chronicles"
http://skepdic.com/sitchin.html
I hope this answered your question. My search strategy (besides
reading the stories :), was to search for Sitchin's name with specific
references to "King James Bible", or to specific issues that are
mentioned in his book (for example, Nephilim).
If you need any further clarifications on the answer, please let me
know. I'd be pleased to clarify my answer before you rate it. |
