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The Bible Among the Myths

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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Book Summary

Submitted to Dr. Erik Mitchell, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of the course

OBST 510-D10
Introduction to the Old Testament

by

Stephen Corbett
November 10, 2013

Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Bible and Myth 2 The Bible in Its World The Bible and Myth: A Problem of Definition Continuity: The Basis of Mythical Thinking Transcendence: Basis of Biblical Thinking The Bible verses Myth The Bible and History 9 The Bible and History: A Problem of Definition Is the Bible Truly Historical? The Problem of History (1) Does it Matter Whether the Bible Is Historical? The Problem of History (2) Origins of the Biblical Worldview: Alternatives Conclusion 15

Introduction “The Bible Among the Myths” begins with the author, John N. Oswalt, establishing his credibility on the topic discussed. Following his studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and Brandeis University, Oswald went on to teach courses at multiple seminaries on the subject of the Old Testament. Due to his years of teaching, he followed the current thought in the scholarly world in reference to the Bible and the subject of myth. In a sixty year gap, scholarly thought went from a popular view of the Israelite thought being completely separate and unconnected to the ancient near eastern thought to currently seeing Israelite religion as simply one more of the complex West Semitic religions. Scholars shifted to view the Israelite religion as a result of evolutionary change where the religion developed from the effects of time and a similar worldview to the world around. The introduction brings up the discovery of such evidence as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the texts found at Ugarit. Oswald

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