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The Woman's Other Bible By Cherise Duncan

A refreshing, alternative viewpoint to the patriarchal Book of Genesis

The end of World War II was marked by an important discovery in Judeochristian religion: the dead sea scrolls. These scrolls contained some of the oldest known scripture as determined by radiocarbon dating. While the bulk of the verses translated mirror those found in 10th century texts, alterations and omissions are sometimes apparent. Little known, however, are the apocrypha which has been isolated from public view.

Among the Qumran caves were some thousand or so texts which now have been distributed throughout the world's museums for public viewing. In particular, Cave 4 was high in yield of these ancient manuscripts. Among the scrolls were large portions of the Book of Genesis, the well known foremost book of Abrahamic religion. The initial uprooting of these scrolls was a joint effort between the Catholic church and leading Jewish scholars of the newly formed Israeli state. Translators accompanied these experts, and the deciphering of the text was rapid.

There were surprises among the text. In private, the joint commission of Jewish and Christian scholars made haste in deciding which among the scrolls would enter the eyes of the public and which would be forever buried due to perceived disagreement, contradiction, and obscenity. Most startling was an alternative version of the story of Sodom and of Lot and his daughters. Authored only by the self-described "Granddaughter of Lot", the story describes in vivid and sometimes graphic detail the story of the fall of Sodom and the fathering of the Jewish people's bloodline from Lot's daughters. Contradictions with officially published verses in the Bible abounded. At the time, the scholars thought this version, bordering on pornographic and commending the free will of women to pursue their own sexual devices, was a threat to the order of both the Christian Churches and the Jewish Synagogues.

Some felt the text was so offensive that it deserved to be burnt. However, as members of both religions feared retribution by their followers if they learned of the destruction of a potentially Holy text, it was agreed that the scrolls would be preserved in a fragmented form. The manuscript was divided into sections of verse and distributed randomly among secure houses of worship throughout the world.

It was unknown at the time that one of the team members involved in the excavation had copied and stored a rough translation of this text. Despite the vast amount of protection used to maintain the actual scripture's public absence, this rough translation was discovered among the deceased anthropologist's belongings by no one other than his own granddaughter. Determined to reveal the contents to the world and extend her grandfather's legacy, she edited the draft and prepared it for publication. She eschewed her grandfather's near-clinical descriptions of some of the more erotic scenes, favouring what she believed to be the correctly sensuous perspective of the work.

The words from this manuscript of Genesis are distinct from the authorative, partriarchal cultural hegemony that fills the old testament of the Bible. While as unchaste as the Song of

Songs, the narrative is transformed by personal perspective. In particular, it revolves around the daughter of Lot, Pheine, and is unabashed in its sexuality. This is important counterpoint is what is referred to by Kierkegaard as the Either, the aesthetic phase of existing. The Old Testament of the Bible, so embedded in its tales of the Or, is, in and of itself, unable to represent some of the aesthetics of life and the joy of experience. One may argue that the Bible's known exclusion of female authors has led to an incomplete telling, a religion for which only one half of reality is represented. Together, this narrative and the one given in the Bible press the text beyond Either/Or to the realm of true religious thought.

Kierkegaard, as the Pheine and Lot of this manuscript would, stresses:

"Do not interrupt the flight of your soul; do not distress what is best in you; do not enfeeble your spirit with half wishes and half thoughts. Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it -- and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart's indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you -- for only the truth that builds up is truth for you." - Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

_The Cry of Sodom_is available from Oxford Publishing in their seminal textbook, "Women and Sexuality in Abrahamic Religion, 3rd ed., 2008.