The Historical Reliability of Genesis

Is the Genesis Narrative Grounded in Real History or Ancient Myth?

For more than two centuries, historical-critical skepticism and modern rationalism have relegated the first book of the Bible to the realm of late fiction and folklore. In The Historical Reliability of Genesis, Jesús Fernández-Pedrera Correa presents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary defense of the biblical text, showing that Genesis preserves a substantive historical substratum anchored in the authentic world of the ancient Near East.

This revised and enlarged second edition (510 pages) provides an exhaustive academic synthesis that bridges dogmatic theology, ancient Near Eastern epigraphy, population genetics, and cutting-edge geoarchaeology-all fully illustrated with custom cartography, data tables, and high-resolution color archaeological documentation.

• Dogmatic & Hermeneutical Foundations: An in-depth analysis of biblical inspiration and qualified inerrancy (Dei Verbum 11-12), instrumental causality, and the essential role of ancient Near Eastern literary genres.
• Textual Transmission & the Scribal Paradigm: A rigorous critique of the classical Documentary Hypothesis (JEDP), examining the scribal techniques of Wiederaufnahme (resumptive repetition) in Genesis 1-2, the stability of the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QGen-k, 1QIsaᵃ), and the textual legacy of the Septuagint (LXX) vs. the Masoretic Text.
• Adam, Eve, and Modern Population Genetics: A complete presentation of the SCO-E genetic model and its computational audit report (using msprime and 1000 Genomes data), exploring the mathematical plausibility of a single-couple origin at the Early-to-Middle Pleistocene transition without compromising Catholic doctrine.
• The Flood in History & Geoarchaeology: A rigorous field analysis integrating 2025 Mesopotamian paleohydrological findings, river avulsion at Lagash, the stratigraphy of Shuruppak, and a detailed comparison with Sumerian and Akkadian epics (Atrahasis, Gilgamesh XI, Ziusudra).
• Babel, Linguistics, and Monumental Architecture: An examination of linguistic monogenesis, ancestral SOV syntax, and the historical reality of the Etemenanki ziggurat and the Tower of Babel Stele.
• The Patriarchal World in Clay and Stone: Concrete cultural, legal, and economic synchronisms with the Middle Bronze Age (Mari, Nuzi, and Alalakh tablets), slave prices across two millennia, and West Semitic onomastics in the Brooklyn Papyrus.

Biblical scholars, seminarians, theologians, apologists, and serious readers seeking a definitive, intellectually rigorous defense of the historical integrity of Sacred Scripture that respects both orthodox faith and rigorous scientific inquiry.