Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Genesis has no shortage of confusing, misleading, and bizarre stories, but this week we're tackling two separate stories that share a particularly ugly history. First, we tell a story in third person. Or rather, a story about the third person. It's Adam and Eve's firstborn, Cain, who killed his brother and was cursed by God. But God also gave him a mark of protection- something on his person that everyone could see, and would ensure nobody would hurt him. But what was that mark, and could the idea of it somehow be used to prop up racism? Of course it can.
Then we'll discuss the curse of Noah's son Ham. Ham did a bad thing (did he, though? We talked about this in a previous episode), and was also cursed. Well, his kid was cursed. None of it makes much sense, really, but the upshot is that somehow, people found a way to deploy this story for racist purposes again.
As a palate-cleanser from all this cursing, we're getting apocryphal. It's a cute little book that was once included as part of Daniel, but has been ejected by Protestants: Susanna.
For early access to an ad-free version of every episode of Data Over Dogma, exclusive content, and the opportunity to support our work, please consider becoming a monthly patron at:
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Follow us on the various social media places:
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Hey! Don't forget to pre-order Dan McClellan's upcoming book The Bible Says So
static.macmillan.com/static/smp/bible-says-so-9781250347466
Genesis has no shortage of confusing, misleading, and bizarre stories, but this week we're tackling two separate stories that share a particularly ugly history. First, we tell a story in third person. Or rather, a story about the third person. It's Adam and Eve's firstborn, Cain, who killed his brother and was cursed by God. But God also gave him a mark of protection- something on his person that everyone could see, and would ensure nobody would hurt him. But what was that mark, and could the idea of it somehow be used to prop up racism? Of course it can.
Then we'll discuss the curse of Noah's son Ham. Ham did a bad thing (did he, though? We talked about this in a previous episode), and was also cursed. Well, his kid was cursed. None of it makes much sense, really, but the upshot is that somehow, people found a way to deploy this story for racist purposes again.
As a palate-cleanser from all this cursing, we're getting apocryphal. It's a cute little book that was once included as part of Daniel, but has been ejected by Protestants: Susanna.
For early access to an ad-free version of every episode of Data Over Dogma, exclusive content, and the opportunity to support our work, please consider becoming a monthly patron at:
patreon.com/DataOverDogma
Follow us on the various social media places:
facebook.com/DataOverDogmaPod
twitter.com/data_over_dogma
Hey! Don't forget to pre-order Dan McClellan's upcoming book The Bible Says So
static.macmillan.com/static/smp/bible-says-so-9781250347466
