Such a meta-metanarrative remains in thrall to the modern metanarratives of progress, for which the label premodern is equivalent to obsolescent. But from the biblical story’s own perspective, its premodern origin is no bar to its contemporary truth or relevance. By calling the biblical story a nonmodern metanarrative, I distinguish it from the modern metanarratives that Lyotard opposes. Consideration of the ways in which it is and is not what Lyotard defines and deplores will help illuminate its