“Myth as Revelation,” Laval théologique et philosophique 70 (2014) : 539-61 (original) (raw)
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Scandinvian journal of the old testament
In a 1998 paper (published in 2001 in SJOT 15:3-56) I suggested that myth is not a (literary) genre, being altogether too polymorphous to fit any such formal definition, but rather a mind-set. The opposition often discerned by biblical scholars between myth and history had led to extravagant claims concerning the non-mythic nature of Old Testament narratives, on the ground that their basis often lay in "historical fact." On the other hand, the status of history in the Old Testament has become almost as contentious in some recent scholarship. This paper raises some fundamental problems, and examines some current tendencies in both areas, and will ask whether it is possible to reach some modus vivendi, in which scholars of diverse persuasions may find some common ground, instead of continuing to talk past each other.
The Contribution of Myth Analysis to the Study of Biblical Sources
AJS 52nd Annual Conference, 2020
The connection between the study of Myth and biblical research is not direct. A Reading of 20th-century theories of Myth shows that the theorists avoid demonstrating their ideas through biblical text. Despite this tendency, there is a clear connection between Myth and Jewish studies. Under the influence of general myth research, the old definition of Myth as a genre was changed to a new concept that deals with Myth as a thinking structure that underlies culture. The natural connection of Myth to folk literature and oral performance can be very useful in analyzing text that was partly created in pre-writing societies. The argument is that approaches that focus on symbols and structures that characterize archaic perceptions can contribute to the analysis of biblical texts while providing explanations for biblical phenomena as various genres, duplicate and triangular narratives, and layers. A brief illustration through some biblical sources will expose the contribution of modern theories to the study of biblical text.
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This article promotes the theorizing of myth in ways that facilitate comparison and re-description of data within Biblical Studies. After addressing background categorical issues within Religious Studies and Biblical Studies, I chart the old model of contrasting Bible as Truth with myth, including Eusebius’s antique articulation as well as Romantic notions of myth. Challenging outmoded theories, I identify scholarship that works towards rectification of the category myth, with the aim of bolstering scholarly conversations beyond disciplinary boundaries. Finally, the article suggests rectification of multiple Biblical Studies categories related to myth.
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Although published in 2009, this book speaks to the current controversy of scholars embracing the ANE myth to explain the origins and similarities with the Old Testament. This caused some to conclude that Old Testament stories should not be taken as history or preserving historical events. This book is an excellent student-level introduction to the issue. It covers the classifications of myth according to scholars, the historical development and influence of the scholarly use of myth, why the Old Testament, and by extension the New, does not incorporate falsehood into its accounts of the past, and how the Bible is unique in its view of one transcendent God, humans and nature. Such is remarkable, given the surrounding dominance and influence of pagan nations. It also speaks to the dire consequences of losing or obscuring the unique transcendence view preserved in ancient Scripture.
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In search of a scientifically useful minimal definition of the term "myth", this article traces the development of the concept from the cultural environment of classical Greece, in which it was born, until its modern use in the framework of socio-anthropological studies. Of all the terms of the vocabulary of religious anthropology "myth'' is certainly the most used one. Unfortunately, its wide-spread use is directly proportional to its indeterminateness. Moreover, it regards not only the everyday lexis (what is exactly intended, when, for instance, people call an actor or a soccer player "mythic"?), but also academic communications: various authors can intend by this concept diametrically opposed things.
The CONCEPT OF MYTH has been discussed in Jewish stud since its beginning. While in those initial steps discussions ab adhered solely to the Hebrew Bible, during the next stages of opment of Jewish studies the discussion expanded to other p Jewish culture, raising new questions and issues, so much so came almost an independent discipline. Still, when a seminal Jewish myths is published, one that covers three successive pe Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and medieval Kabbalah? major theoretical and historical questions for a new discussion undoubtedly a scholarly event. Such a book has been written b Fishbane. While the long-term impact of this important study foreseen, we should not refrain from an attempt to assess the con of such a central publication. The outstanding contribution of this study is its range. Fishb into three complex historical periods that, in spite of great di are connected to each other in overt and covert relationships. ous link is tradition; each period builds on the motifs, thought str and models of the prior generations. It is impossible to unde mythical creativity of the Kabbalah without the mythical dera mon) in the Talmud and midrash; or, in turn, the mythical t rabbinic literature without the foundations built in the Hebr The Hebrew Bible is another link binding all three eras. Fishb looks at the sustained and evolving apperception of the on image that is the basis of the mythic worldview?as well as p themes such as the struggle of God with the primaeval creatur participation of God in the nation's sufferings. Despite its scope, the book does not neglect the details. We
BIBLICAL AND CLASSICAL MYTHS: THE MYTHOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF WESTERN CULTURE
- The World of Angels -Leviathan, Dragons, and the Antichrist Demonic Parodies and the Hero from across the The Double Mirror Exodus and Gospel The Metaphor of Kingship King, Priest, and Prophet The Question of Primogeniture ,Genesis: In the Beginning ,Genesis: Creating the Sexes; Exodus: A Revolutionary Heritage . Law: Ordering a Society Above The Page #s are not present for the Abstract but below are - 152 16. Law and Revolution; Wisdom: The Proverb 162 17. Wisdom: Playing before God; Ecclesiastes: Vanity of Vanities 172 18. Job: A Test 181 19. Job and the Question of Tragedy 191 Contents vii 20. Job and Restored Humanity 202 21. The Language of Proclamation: Style and Rhythm in the Bible; The Gospel: Rewriting the Commandments 212 22. Revelation: Removing the Veil 222 23. Revelation: After the Ego Disappears 232 24. The Language of Love 244 Maps 251 Note on the Illustrations 255 Notes 261 The Bible and Further Readings 267 FOUR AGES: THE CLASSICAL MYTHS 271 Foreword 273 Introduction 275 I. In The Beginning 279 The Creation 279 viii Contents The Golden Age 280 War in Heaven 281 The Reign of Zeus 284 Prometheus 287 Pandora's Box 289 Deucalion's Flood 290 Phaëthon 293 II. Spring and Winter 296 Demeter and Persephone 296 Adonis 301 Hyacinthus 302 Narcissus 302 Orpheus 303 III. Loves of the Gods and Metamorphoses 306 Loves of Zeus: Callisto, Io 306 Contents ix Pan and Syrinx 308 Apollo and Daphne 308 Clytie 309 Endymion 309 Arachne 310 Procne and Philomela 310 Midas' Touch 312 Ceyx and Alcyone 313 Nisus and Scylla 314 Philemon and Baucis 315 IV. The Heroes 317 Perseus 317 The Labours of Heracles 320 Jason and the Golden Fleece 326 Bellerophon and Pegasus 338 x Contents Theseus 340 V. The Royal House of Thebes 348 The Children of Agenor 348 Zeus and Semele 349 Ino and Athamas 350 Pentheus 350 Actaeon 351 Oedipus 352 VI. The Tale of Troy 355 The Apple of Discord 355 The War 358 The Fall of the City 363 The Returns 366 The Return ofMenelaus 366 The Return of Agamemnon 369 The Return of Aeneas 371 The Return of Odysseus 373 Contents xi Index of Classical Mythology 455 VIL Cupid and Psyche 388 VIII. Conclusion: The Passing and Afterlife of the Gods 395 Family Trees 404 Mythology-History Chart 406 Maps 408 Sources of Quotations 412 Note on the Illustrations 415 Note on Classical Names 416 Notes 418 Suggestions for Further Reading 433 Biblical Indexes 437 So the narrative unity of the Bible, which is there in spite of the miscellaneous nature of its content, was something that I stressed. And that concern for narrative seems to me to be distinctive of the Bible among other sacred books. In the Koran, for example, the revelations of Mohammed were gathered up after his death and arranged in order of length, which suggests that revelation in the Koran pays no attention to Symbolism in the Bible 9 narrative continuity—that's not what it is interested in. But the fact that the Bible is interested in it seems to be significant for the study of literature and for many other reasons. The second way in which the Bible is unified is through a number of recurring images: mountain, sheep, river, hill, pasture, bride, bread, wine, and so on. They echo and re-echo all through the Bible and are repeated in so many ways as to suggest that they have a thematic importance: that they are actually building up some kind of interconnected unity. The present course is really based on this conception of the unity of the narrative of the Bible and the unity formed by its recurrent imagery. The only form of the Bible that I can deal with is the Christian Bible, with its Old and New Testaments, however polemical those names may sound. In the first place, it's the only version of the Bible I know anything about, and in the second place it is the one that has been decisive for Western culture through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to our own time. The Old Testament was of course written in Hebrew, except for a few passages in the later language Aramaic, which replaced Hebrew as a spoken language and was probably the language spoken by Jesus and his disciples. In Hebrew, only the consonants are written down, so that all the vowels are editorial. Therefore, the establishing of the text of the Hebrew Bible took quite a long while, and was still going on in New Testament times. Some centuries before that, it had been translated into Greek for the benefit of Jews living in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. The number of translators was traditionally seventy, and so the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament has been called the Septuagint, usually abbreviated LXX. The Hebrew text in the form in which we have it was established later—it's called the Masoretic, the scholarly or traditional text established by rabbis and scholars working mainly around the environs of Lake Tiberius in Galilee. So the Septuagint is in many respects older than the Hebrew text that we have, and sometimes preserves more primitive readings. The New Testament was written in Greek by writers whose native language probably was not Greek. The kind of Greek they wrote was called koine, the popular Greek which was distributed all through the Near Eastern countries as a kind of common language. The writers of the New Testament may have been familiar to differing degrees with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, but when they quoted from the Old Testament they tended to use the Septuagint. And that is the 10 Symbolism in the Bible beginning of a principle which is rather important for the history of Christianity. In any sacred book, there is enough concentration in the writing, and enough attention paid to it by those who accept it as sacred, for the linguistic characteristics of the original language to be of great importance. Any Jewish interpretation or commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament inevitably takes great care to study the linguistic nuances of the Hebrew original, and similarly with the Koran, which is so bound up with the linguistic characteristics of Arabic that in practice the Arabic language has had to go everywhere that the Islamic religion has gone. In In the 1970s and 1980s, Northrop Frye and Jay Macpherson co-taught at the University of Toronto's Victoria College a very influential course on the history of Western mythology in which Frye focused on the Biblical myths and Macpherson on the Classical. Biblical and Classical Myths attempts to recreate the remarkable synergy of that course, combining Frye's lectures (published only very recently in the Collected Works of Northrop Frye) and Macpherson's popular 1962 textbook, Four Ages: The Classical Myths. Frye's lectures on the Bible, which make up the first half of the book, expound on a wide variety of topics related to Biblical imagery and narrative. In the second half of the book, Macpherson recounts the major Classical myths, exploring their interconnections and their sur vival in later European traditions. By complementing the Biblical tradition with the Classical, this vol ume provides a comprehensive introduction to Western mythology. Engaging and accessible, Biblical and Classical Myths represents a unique achievement in scholarship and is an essential volume for students and others interested in literature and cultural studies. Some Pseudepigrapha and other Ancient Works + Other Syriac and English , Arabic , Greek works listed below I myself can obtain if you message me ! Table of Contents 1. The Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypse of Moses) (Arabic) 2. The Testament of Adam (Syriac and Arabic) 3. The Cave of Treasures (Syriac and Arabic) 4. The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (Arabic) 5. The Book of Adam (Codex Nazaraeus; Mandean Fragment) (Syriac) 6. Life of Abel, by Symmachus (Syriac) 7. Syriac Book of Seth (Syriac) 8. 1 Enoch (Syriac) 9. Apocalypse of Enoch (Syriac) 10. Tractate of Shem (Syriac) 11. The Testament of Abraham (On the Death of Abraham) (Arabic) 12. History of Melchizedek (Syriac and Arabic) 13. Joseph and Asenath (Recension Two) (Syriac) 14. History of Joseph (Syriac) 15. History of Joseph, Son of Jacob [Version A] (Arabic) 16. History of Joseph, Son of Jacob [Version B] (Arabic) 17. History of Joseph (Arabic) 18. Dormition of Joseph, the Son of Jacob (Arabic) 19. Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs (Syriac) 20. The Names of the Wives of the Patriarchs (Syriac) 21. The Conversation of Moses with God (Syriac and Arabic) 22. The Book of Jubilees (Syriac) 23. The Life of Moses (Arabic) 24. Instruction of David to Solomon (Arabic) 25. The Palace of Solomon (Arabic) 26. Questions of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon (Syriac) 27. Testament of Solomon to Rehoboam his son (Arabic) 28. The Final Counsel of Solomon (Arabic) 29. The Death of Solomon (Arabic) 30. Aphikia (2 Recensions) (Arabic)