The Archaeology of Myth

by Wyatt,N.

• ISBN13: 9781845533588
• ISBN10: 1845533585
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-08-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Israelite religion is studied overwhelmingly in historical categories, on the basis of its so-called 'historical faith'. Myth as a category is often explicitly denied as being present in the Bible. This volume resumes the author's concern (already addressed in The Mythic Mind, Equinox 2005) to recognize the importance of mythological categories in discussing any religion, and especially Israelite religion, as a means of redressing this perceived imbalance in the field. Having said this, myths themselves have histories, and the first five chapters in the present collection explore the shaping of various key biblical narratives and themes, with a view to showing how they developed from primitive forms into the distinctive final forms of the text. The last chapter resumes the author's discussion of the general theoretical issues involved in the treatment of myth in the biblical context, arguing that the concept shares many features with history, not least in the concern for both categories to reinforce and even shape social memories and values.

Author Biography

N. Wyatt is emeritus professor of Ancient Near Eastern Religions in the University of Edinburgh. He previously taught in the universities of Glasgow, Stirling and Ibadan. His publications include include Religious Texts from Ugarit (1998), Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Ancient Near East (2001), The Mythic Mind (Equinox Publishing, 2005) and There's such Divinity doth Hedge a King: Selected Essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature (2005).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. x
Abbreviations	p. xi
Where Did Jacob Dream his Dream?	p. 1
The Story of Dinah and Shechem	p. 13
A la Recherche des Rephaïm Perdus	p. 43
The Seventy Sons of Athirat, the Nations of the World, Deuteronomy 32:6b, 8-9, and the Myth of Divine Election	p. 69
Old Men or Progenitors? A Proposal to Emend the Text of Deuteronomy 32:7 and Proverbs 23:22	p. 78
The Mythic Mind Revisited: Myth and History - or Myth versus History - a Continuing Problem in Biblical Studies	p. 83
Bibliography of Works Cited	p. 94
Index of References	p. 104
Index of Authors	p. 109
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.