...ABSTRACT John Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, presents his position to the reader that the bible is different and separate from other writings of the Ancient Near East. He asserts the Bible is both historically accurate and theologically sound. He makes the defense the Bible was divinely inspired and revealed to humanity and unique from other Ancient Near East literature. There was a time when the Bible, and the Israelite religion was different from its neighboring societies. But as times have changed, many people now lump the bible with other Ancient Near East myths. The book is broken up into two sections. The first half of the book, “The Bible and Myth,” Oswalt takes the time to define what a myth is and what differentiates the Bible from a myth. He then describes the different between the worldview of the Ancient Near East and continuity is different from the Bible’s transcendence. The second half of the book, “The Bible and History,” examines several philosophical thoughts proposed by others that attempt to explain the Bible’s relevance separate from historical validity. Oswalt provides excellent arguments against the new age philosophies. Oswalt provides an articulate argument for the veracity of the Bible’s history and theology by providing several convincing points to affirm the Bibles varicity. Introduction John N. Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, provides the reader with a brief, yet comprehensive view of the differences and similarities...
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...Topic: In The Bible Among the Myths, Oswalt states, “If the historical basis on which the supposed revelation [the Bible] rested was false, then why should we give any special credence to the ideas resting on that basis” (p. 31). Please post a 400-word response to Oswalt’s statement. Seek to answer whether or not one could trust a historically false document to be theologically accurate? If not, why? If so, how? Randall Terry DB Forum 1 When one hears the word “myth,” It is hard to connect it with the Bible in any way. The definition of a Myth is; “a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.” [] The Bible is in no way a myth. It is the Holy Spirit inspired, infallible Word of God and if any part of the Bible were to be false or a myth it would shake the very foundation of Christian faith to its core. The Bibles beginning has no association with human understanding other than the authors who were human but, driven by the very Spirit of God. Throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit clarifies and teaches wisdom and knowledge to us. 1Corinthians 2:13 says “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” [] In order for someone to understand the spiritual...
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...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...
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...1. What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate (give a number with units)? The cooling and warming of unsaturated air of 10C every 1000 meters or about 5.5F for every 1000 feet. The rate of change of any meteorological factor with altitude, esp atmospheric temperature, which usually decreases at a rate of 0.6°C per 100 metres (environmental lapse rate). Unsaturated air loses about 1°C per 100 m (dry adiabatic lapse rate), whereas saturated air loses an average 0.5°C per 100 m (saturated adiabatic lapse rate) 2. Is the moist adiabatic rate greater than or less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate? Less .During saturated ascent, the release of latent heat via condensation partly offsets the conversion of thermal energy into work as parcels expand, reducing the cooling rate of the parcel to less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate (that observed for unsaturated parcels.) The saturated adiabatic lapse rate is 6 degrees per 1,000 meters. The dry adiabatic rate is 10 degrees per 1,000 meters. When a mass of saturated air rises in the atmosphere adiabatically,its temperature falls with height at a rate which is considerably less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate on account of continuous addition of the latent heat of condensation that accompanies the adiabatic cooling of saturated air and the consequent separating out of excess water vapour in the form of drops of liquid water. 3. A parcel of air becomes cooler than its environment if lifted. Is this a stable or unstable condition?...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Dr. Daniel Warner of the requirements for the completion of the course OBST 510 Old Testament – Introduction to Old Testament by Sheniece Wallace September , 2014 Introduction John N. Oswalt, curiosity about the study of the Bible and theological questions was influenced in the 1960s, during his graduate studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. Followed by further education in Theology, triggered a facet of questions during his time at Harvard Divinity. William F. Albright, a scholar proposed the questions the Israelites of the Old Testament and their reasoning about there beliefs. The radical Prolegomena for Oswalts, book sprung up a multitude of questions for him to consider answering his and humanity questions about the godly ideology in religion culture. His statements questions godly character whether it was wrong , right, or believable. He mentions his hypothesis of revelation: as humans we couldn’t possibly be in control of our own purpose and that we need a higher power to sustain us. Comparison is made between religions of Israelite the and ancient near east; the worship of their deity. The thought of serving one deity, then, why were so many other religions evolved? Subliminally, in my words, questions the Biblical integrity and purpose being accredited to for humans to believe as truth...
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...Introduction: The Bible Among The Myths by John N. Oswalt The author Oswalt spent much time studying the subject of the ANE (Ancient Near East). This book will investigate the Idealism, history, culture and how they related to the relevance of the critical worldview of the Old Testament and the Hebrew belief as compared to the surrounding ANE. Oswalt’s views, thinking and direction have changed completely over his 50 years studying the ANE and the Bible. This book will show the similarities and differences in thought between the Hebrew Old Testament and the ANE. Oswalt will define what a myth is and argue why the Old Testament is not and cannot be considered a myth. The Bible, when compared to ANE literature, has a completely different understanding of creation and how the spiritual and natural realms interact and exist. There is not a continuous existence that just repeats itself over and over, but rather a series of single events that lead to a greater purpose. It is Oswalt’s position that the Bible is an accurate historical account of a people who received their relevance of belief from a single living transcendent God. The historical basis is important as God reveals himself through humans, in non-recurring human-historical events, to impose God’s will and direction to affect the will of humans. Chapter 1: The Bible In Its World In this chapter Oswalt addresses different beliefs on the existence of the world. Specifically how the Israelites and Greeks viewed the...
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...Book Review Summary of Oswalt, John, N.“ The Bible Among the Myths.” Anglican Theological Review (Spring 2003): 341-360. OBST 590 LUO (Summer 2013) Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary Lee B Yarbrough (ID# L5943213) June 2, 2013 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART I. The Bible and Myth Chapter 1. The Bible in Its World 2 Chapter 2. The Bible and Myths: A problem of Definition 3 Chapter 3. Continuity: The basis of Mythical Thinking 4 Chapter 4. Transcendence: Basis of Biblical Thinking 5 Chapter 5. The Bible Versus Myth 6 PART II. The Bible and History Chapter 6. The Bible and History: A Problem of Defition 7 Chapter 7. Is the Bible Truly Historical? The Problem of History (1) 8 Chapter 8. Does It Matter Whether the Bible is Historical? The Problem of History (2) 9 Chapter 9. Origins of the Biblical Worldview: Alternatives 10 Conclusions 11 Introduction Oswalt starts with a concise and well-written introduction that is compelling reading. He shares some very revealing personal information dating back to the 1960s, when he attended Asbury Theological Seminary. Oswalt quickly points out that one of the main points the book will focus on is determining if “the religion of the Old Testament [is] essentially similar to, or essentially different from, the religions of its neighbors...
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...Bible Among the Myths Malcom College English 093 Ms. Smith 01/23/2012 Introduction The book is an analysis of the Biblical view of the world and compares it other works in the Ancient Near East of that time with the development of the Bible. This is done by an in-depth analysis of the underlying beliefs inherent in mythology and the Biblical text. Of primary significance is the author's portrayal of the Biblical insistence on monotheism and divine transcendence compared to the polytheistic underpinnings of mythology. The author compares the ethically based Biblical view of the divine/human relationship with the ritualistic and magical view of that relationship found in mythology. With these and other comparisons (and with due consideration given to the various similarities between Israel and her neighbors), the author gives an excellent overview of the subject matter of the thought. In The Bible Among the Myths,Oswalt takes the conversation further by illuminating the fact that Israel's faith couldn’t have simply evolved out of nowhere. Oswalt shows that the surrounding Ancient Near East cultures had a worldview known as Continuity. This view maintained that all things that exist are a part of each other (such as the gods, nature, and humanity), the existence of polytheism, that the gods could be manipulated through nature and natural artifacts(which was the point of idol worship), the significance of magic, the obsession with fertility which led to sexual...
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...Myth and Scripture resources for Biblical Study Susan ackerman, Old testament/hebrew Bible editor number 78 Myth and Scripture conteMporary perSpectiveS on religion, language, and iMagination Edited by dexter e. callender Jr. SBl press atlanta copyright © 2014 by SBl press all rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 copyright act or in writing from the publisher. requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the rights and permissions office, Society of Biblical literature, 825 houston Mill road, atlanta, ga 30329 uSa. library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Myth and scripture : contemporary perspectives on religion, language, and imagination / Dexter E. Callender, Jr., editor. p. cm. — (Society of Biblical literature resources for biblical study ; number 78) includes bibliographical references and index. iSBn 978-1-58983-961-8 (paper binding : alk. paper) — iSBn 978-1-58983-962-5 (electronic format) — iSBn 978-1-58983-963-2 (hardcover binding : alk. paper) 1. Myth in the Bible. 2. Bible. old testament—criticism, interpretation, etc. i. callender, dexter e., 1962– editor of compilation. ii. callender, dexter e., 1962– author. Myth and Scripture : dissonance and convergence.. BS520.5.M98 2014 220.6'8—dc23 2014002897...
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...I’m most familiar with come from the bible, Genesis: Chapter 1-3. However during my recent studies on creation myths, I’ve learned many others. A common theory of the earth started is reflected in the bible and occurred within six days. Creation myths are beliefs and stories on the earliest beginnings of the world. Oral traditions throughout the different cultures are regarded as truth for the “creation” and served as the historical reference we know today. Common element s of creation myths begin with a birth, a supreme being, human and animals and instructions from the creator. Almost all cultures have at least if not all these elements in the creation myths but vary to some degree. Every revolving culture has developed creation myths centered on historical interpretation, factual events and cultural influence however the African Bushmen and the Egyptian’s are similar on morals however different in the creation. All creation myths consist of a supreme being of some kind or form. The being is not always represent but is importance is just as equal. The Greek and the Japanese show gods and goddesses, whereas the Aborigines had to supreme beings: Father of All Spirits and the Sun Mother.(Murtagh). The Japense also has two gods Izanagi and Izanami which served as the creators of earths and the offspring becoming the people of Japan.(Murtagh) The Supreme Being in many cultures was responsible for the creation of earth such as the bible reference to God creating the earth in...
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...The Bible among the Myths Book Summary Introduction The author, John N. Oswalt, attended Asbury Theological Seminary for his undergraduate studies. He attended Brandeis University in the Mediterranean Studies Department for his graduate degree. Mr. Oswalt has taught at Asbury Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity, and Wesley Biblical Seminary. According to Oswalt, serious questions about the evolutionary paradigm inherent in the philosophy of Idealism were the result of the economic depression in the late 40’s. Since there was little separation from Idealism and the standard higher critical views of Old Testament that had prevailed for the past fifty years, there was cause for some rethinking about the Old Testament and the associated religion. This rethinking was led by William F. Albright, G. Ernest Wright, and others of the Harvard Divinity School. Sixty years later, it is widely accepted that Israelite religion is just one more West Semitic religion and that its characteristic features can be fully explained on through evolutionary change. Oswalt writes that no new discoveries led to this dramatic change in thinking. Because of the work of Karl Barth in 1950, the scholarly world was ready the idea of revelation in ways not found in the last couple of generations. Revelation assumes that this world is not self-explanatory and that some communication from beyond the world is necessary to explain it. Oswalt states that this idea is distasteful...
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...BOOK SUMMARY: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN THOUGHT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT BY JOHN H. WALTON Old Testament Introduction OBST 510 May 4, 2014 Part 1 – Comparative Studies Chapter 1: History and Methods History: Walton begins the chapter with the “rediscovery of Egypt which began in the eighteenth century AD and of Mesopotamia in the mid nineteenth century AD.” There were discoveries of tens of thousands of texts that were excavated, translated and studied. Many of these tablets and texts did coincide with the Bible. Walton outlines comparative study which is the study that attempts to understand things when compared to their broader cultural context. The goal in this case is to understand the Old Testament compared to the ANE. There have been many debates on comparative study and the way in which is executed. Comparative studies deal with the cultures, myths, religions, worldviews and literature of all the people living in the ANE. A comparative study acknowledges that cultures are separate, but that these separate cultures are aware of and understand the religions and rituals of the other surrounding cultures and at times even engages in those rituals. Many of the Scholars were so biased that they tended to argue for the importance of the Old Testament, or vice-versa defended the mythology concept of scripture so vehemently that the cultural comparison was lost. Not until Friedrich Delitzsch, who was the son of the famous biblical commentator Franz Delitzsch, did a more focused...
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...Liberty University THE BIBLE AMONG THE MYTHS A Book Summary Submitted to Dr. Daniel Warner in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Course OBST 510 Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary by Sunday September 20th, 2015 Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter1--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Chapter 2 3 Chapter 3 4 Chapter 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Chapter 5 7 Chapter 6 8 Chapter 7 10 Chapter 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Chapter 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Chapter 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?. By John N. Oswalt. Grande Rapides, MI: Zondervan, 2009. Introduction Oswalt begins by discussing the origins of this book. How that at the close of the Second World War people had begun to re-evaluate some of their long held beliefs. As Oswalt would have said their paradigms began to shift. As this shift began people such as Albright and his students say a major difference between Jewish religion and the other religions of the ANE. As time passed this pendulum began to swing...
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...method for clarifying the world from their own particular perspective. Along these lines, there is to be perceived a separation in each society's perspective of the world and, as Joseph Campbell expressed in his book Myths to Live By, a sure "solidarity of our species." The characterizing contrasts and similarities between most societies can particularly be found in every society's close to home story of creation. The story of Genesis in the Bible, for instance, could give a lot of knowledge into the comprehension of the world in the brains of a noteworthy part of the United States today. As talked about in Genesis: A Living Conversation, the maker, God, in this section of the book of scriptures, is seen regularly by numerous Americans as a parental figure, and in contrasting this creation story with others, for example, the Greek story of creation by Hesiod and the Zuni myth of rise, one would be connecting the myths of three human advancements as well as the most essential thoughts of these three civic establishments. In this article, I will thoroughly analyze the creation stories of the Bible, the Zuni, and Hesiod through their topics of the primordial void before creation, the fall of mankind into what we now know, and the female central. In numerous myths of creation, there is the real trick of a period before time and/or space and/or request – a thought of nothingness before something goes along to set things in movement. The primary sentence of Genesis states "At the...
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...Two Creation Myths HUM/105 September 17, 2012 The two creation stories I chose to write about are The Genesis account (Hebrew) and the Iroquois Creation myth (Sky Woman). There are several different worlds represented in the two myths I chose. The worlds covered in the story of the Sky Woman are sky, earth, water, and underworld. In the creation story of the Iroquois (Sky Woman) starts off with two worlds an upper world and a lower world. The divine lived in the upper world; the lower world was covered with water and the only beings on the lower land were ones who knew how to swim (Ray, , 2006). In the creation story of Genesis (Hebrew) it talks about the elements we see and experience today. In the Genesis creation story we learn according to "Bible Gateway" (2011), God in the beginning created the heavens and earth. God first spoke that there be light, He named light “day” and darkness night ("Bible Gateway", 2011). God saw that the earth was formless and void and He created water, land, and the sky ("Bible Gateway", 2011). In this creation story the worlds that are spoken about are Heaven, earth, sky, land and water. The creator in the Genesis creation is God it doesn’t state but it is assumed the He is a man. In the story of the Sky woman the creator is a woman. The significance of gender in the Genesis story is that God created human beings to be in His image, in which the first person was a man. The significance of the Sky woman being a female is that with...
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