well, reading is something ive been doin these last few weeks!
ive been reading (amongst other things ofcourse) about how the old testament and new testaments were recorded and stuff, its really extensive "history" isnt it.
this is what i understand of it so far (please please correct me in any way possible)
The ancient hebrew oral traditions may not always be treated "literally" ofcourse. im not a christian or jew so ill be as objective as i can. these traditions were passed down orally between different tribes and were recorded at various times in jewish history. Of more particular importance is that the old testament know of today has been pieced together from different sources (eg: Yahvist, Elohist, Deutronomy, sacredotal).
Genesis was put together from the sacredotal and yahvist versions. but The point is that each version was written in its own historical time frame and historical backgrounds apply to the way each version was written down. i think the old testament provides the story to have more of an allegorical meaning. Is that tru?