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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 8082168" data-attributes="member: 5142">...but, nowhere close. We start getting written stories from Sumer around 2600 BCE. If one were to follow traditional conservative dating for the time of Moses, that would still put the Torah 1000 years after these earlier written stories. However, scholars date the composition of the Book of Genesis to 500, if not later, as it is probably a text from the post-exilic or 2nd Temple period. So there is a comparable chronological distance between us and the composition of Genesis as there is between the earliest written stories we have on record and Genesis.* Deuteronomy and some of the legal/priestly codes within the Torah (core segments of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers) may have their roots in earlier texts, such as King Josiah's Reforms in the case of Deuteronomy, but these texts aren't stories at their core.Probably the closest thing you get to a redemption arc in the Torah are several points of brotherly reconciliation (e.g., Jacob & Esau, Joseph and his brothers) and repentance. Possibly the closest thing to a more modern day "redemption arc" in the Bible would be the conversion of Saul/Paul. But contesting the rest of your point is not particularly worth the effort, though needless to say that I disagree with superficial comparisons.</blockquote>