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, we segue from looking at language as something in itself towards a consideration of how it might be used to push uniformity onto others and to impose from a position of power. From Nimrod to modern empires, language is one of the oldest tools of control. Remember, everyone had one language and spoke the same words. And so, in this episode we will turn our attention to the CITY. In the city, you can be surrounded by others but be completely alone, anonymous.
If everyone is the same then everyone is nameless, anonymous and disappears. This is what happens in the collective mentality. Modern technocratic systems also push humans into anonymity and disappearance. Digital architecture being built all around us is a feature of this mindset. The ultimate goal is total control of everything and everyone. We begin to see the lessons the story of Babel has for us in the modern era.
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 referred to in this episode:
Jordan B.Peterson, We who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine, London, Allen Lane, 2024.
Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012
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