Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?
The BIBLE Among the Myths
John N. Oswalt
The Bible among the Myths
Copyright © 2009 by John N. Oswalt
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oswalt, John N.
The Bible among the myths: unique or just different? / John N. Oswalt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-310-28509-0 (softcover)
1. Myth in the Old Testament. 2. Bible. O.T.—Historiography. 3. Bible. O.T.—Evidences, authority, etc. I. Title.
BS1183.O85 2009
220.1—dc22
2008044722
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version™. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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I asked the earth; and it answered, “I am not He,” and whatsoever are therein made the same confession. I asked the sea and the deeps, and the creeping things that lived, and they replied, “We are not thy God, seek higher than we.” I asked the breezy air, and the universal air with its inhabitants answered, “Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.” I asked the heavens, the sun, moon and stars. “Neither, say they, “are we the God whom thou seekest.” And I answered unto all these things which stand about the door of my flesh, “Ye have told me concerning my God, that ye are not He; tell me something about Him.” And with a loud voice they exclaimed, “He made us.” My questioning was my observing of them; and their beauty was their reply.… I asked the vast bulk of the earth of my God, and it answered me, “I am not He, but He made me.”
—St. Augustine, Confessions 10.6.9
Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw
Teacher, Mentor, Confessor, Friend
2. The Bible and Myth: A Problem of Definition
3. Continuity: The Basis of Mythical Thinking
4. Transcendence: Basis of Biblical Thinking
6. The Bible and History: A Problem of Definition
7. Is the Bible Truly Historical? The Problem of History (1)
8. Does It Matter Whether the Bible Is Historical? The Problem of History (2)
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About The Bible among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?Sixty years ago, most biblical scholars maintained that Israel’s religion was unique—that it stood in marked contrast to the faiths of its ancient Near Eastern neighbors. Nowadays, it is widely argued that Israel’s religion mirrors that of other West Semitic societies. What accounts for this radical change, and what are its implications for our understanding of the Old Testament? Dr. John N. Oswalt says the root of this new attitude lies in Western society’s hostility to the idea of revelation, which presupposes a reality that transcends the world of the senses, asserting the existence of a realm humans cannot control. While not advocating a “the Bible says it, and I believe it, and that settles it” point-of-view, Oswalt asserts convincingly that while other ancient literatures all see reality in essentially the same terms, the Bible differs radically on all the main points. The Bible among the Myths supplies a necessary corrective to those who reject the Old Testament’s testimony about a transcendent God who breaks into time and space and reveals himself in and through human activity. |
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