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mysterious music

I've been a preacher for more than 30
years. I've studied and taught through

the book of Genesis many, many times
in churches all around the world

and I've trained pastors in the skills of
interpreting texts

and it's very clear they're not stories
about Gods.

They're stories about the powerful ones in
the Bible.

And the sky people, the Anunnakki 
in the Sumerian tablets

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[Narrator] In 1896 eminent scholar 
Nathaniel Schmidt

was fired from his position
as Professor of Semitic languages

at Colgate University

For eleven years, this American University
had enjoyed Nathaniel Schmidt rendition ?

and Semitic Languages

He delivered numerous courses in Hebrew,
Aramaic, Coptic , Arabic , Syriac

and other ancient languages besides

In fact, Nathaniel Schmidt was one of 
America's leading scholars in the field

So why, after eleven years 
of outstanding achievement

was he tried for heresy,

and fired from his tenure in 1896?

Though a devout Christian 
and a Baptist pastor

The authorities considered that his recent

theological papers had struck
at the very roots

of two world religions

Christianity and Judaism.

What Nathaniel Schmidt had done wrong

was read the Sumerian and Babylonian

and Assyrian text and notice
that they were full

of fascinating parallels.
Stories that occurred there

that were uncannily similar to all 
the stories and begginings

of the Bible.

Stories like: Adam and Eve

The Fall , Cain and Abel

The Flood, the limiting of human life,

the event of the Tower of Babel,

and Schmidt's work demonstrated that

the Sumerian accounts

and those that follow it
from nearly 6000 years ago

where in all probability 
the source of all those familiar ?

biblical stories.

Now, that was a problem
in the 1890's

because if you think about it

the Church was still reading from
the after effects of

[Paul] Charles Darwin's 
"On the Origin of Species"

and it is busy 
putting together

new doctrinal basis

and new doctrines 
of biblical inherency

to shore up the ship

So the idea that the Bible

might actually be based 
on somebody else's stories

was a bit of an embarrassment

It shouldn't have been

because Judaism 
and Christianity

both find their roots

in the story of a Sumerian family.

The family of Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham and Sarah 
grew up and spent

the best part of their lives
in (research name)

A Sumerian culture

and so when they emigrated
from there

it's hardly surprising that
they would carry with them

[Paul] all the stories of beginnings

that they had 
grown up with.

and sew them
into the foundations

of what was to become

their culture

their religion

and their Bible.