...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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...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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...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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...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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...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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...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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...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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...In The Bible Among the Myths, Oswalt states the question “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). Living in a society today where proof and validity is at the core of all judgments it is detrimental to our Theological beliefs that there is no factual discrepancy in our doctrine. It there was any credible source to disclaim any historical facts that is in the Bible it would cause to question everything in the Bible and the Christian religion itself. For example, a fact cannot be fully true if there is a little lie. If there is a lie, then it puts to question all of the truths. That is why the Bible, the whole Bible is the true and nothing in it is falsely written or even put into question about its actuality. Over the past 2000 years the God breathed Word has been put to trial. Religions from all over the world has been dissecting the Bible word by word and book by book. Still there is no factual claims that the Bible has any discrepancy in time or events. In 2 Timothy 3:16 it says that “All scriptures are God Breathed” and in John 10:35 “the Scriptures cannot be broken” reminding us that everything in the Bible is true in facts and has no discrepancy of any kind. God has spoken to many prophets in the Old Testament and clearly has fulfilled them throughout the New Testament such as: 1. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem - O...
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...theologians who profess this theology, “deny all forms of traditional ontology and allow for no sovereign and unconditioned Being but only a ‘God’ who at some point in the dialectic wills His own self-annihilation” and that, “man must learn to live without God.”[1] The lack of universal truth in our lives in this 21st century can be directly attributed to the lack of morals and moral values begun in the 19th century; and which took root in the 20th century; and might be the death of man in the 22nd century. In stating that God is dead, it has to be shown that: * Is God dead? * Science and technology can solve the world’s problems * God died as a transcendent God when Christ died * The Bible is narrative (i.e. myth) This review of the God-Is-Dead theology focuses on these four questions. Is God Dead? In an article written in the Chicago Tribune in 1963 it is stated that two men (Thomas Altizer and William Hamilton) experienced the death of God. Upon this statement, a “theology” was born. This is very unusual as both of these men happen to be atheist. This then begs the question, if you are an atheist and profess to not believe in God then, how could you have experienced the death of that which you state does not exist in the first place? Secondly, this is very unusual due to the understanding that atheists had never called...
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...II Ancient Near Eastern Thought and The Old Testament By Walton ___________________ Submitted to Dr. Ashraf Basilious 27 February 2013 CONTENTS iNTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I REVIEW 2 chapter ii review 4 CHAPTER III REVIEW 6 CHAPTER IV REVIEW 7 CHAPTER V REVIEW 9 CHAPTER VI REVIEW 11 CHAPTER VII REVIEW 13 CHAPTER VIII REVIEW 15 CHAPTER IX REVIEW 17 CHAPTER X REVIEW 18 CHAPTER XI REVIEW 20 CHAPTER XII REVIEW 22 CHAPTER XIII REVIEW 23 CHAPTER XIV REVIEW 24 CONCLUSION 26 Introduction The “Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament”, by Walton covers many issues which an individual unless wanting to seek more than what is written in the bible would want to perform endless days of research and ability to see firsthand by reading Walton’s book. These areas covered in Walton’s book cover the time from when the Old Testament had begun to be written back in BC and later re-found along with other textual artifacts earth in the 18 and mid 19th century AD. The discoveries of both biblical, and other un-biblical artifacts is covered within Walton’s book to how and why some individuals who have a different form of religious beliefs. To how in the past the individual living during early Near Eastern thought processes had been in regards to God or in many cases when not Israeli or Christian involved gods which were based off an individual’s personal interpretation. Which then in many...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Monografía: Los atributos de Dios: el amor Presentado a Dr. Gerardo Alfaro, en cumplimiento parcial de los requisitos para cumplir el curso Theo 525 de1 Teología sistemática por Daniel Eugenio Zangaro 14 de Diciembre del 2014 Declaración de tesis En esta monografía, realizaré un estudio teológico para determinar lo que realmente significa el amor de Dios. Comenzaré analizando la base bíblica, para luego enfocarme en la benevolencia, la gracia, la misericordia y la persistencia. Además responderé a la pregunta si existe conflicto entre el amor de Dios y su justicia, aportando mi propia conclusión. Contenido Introducción 1 El amor de Dios 1 Estudio teológico de la benevolencia 1 Estudio teológico de la gracia 1 Estudio teológico de la misericordia 3 Estudio teológico de la persistencia 3 El amor y la justicia de Dios ¿Un punto de conflicto? 1 Conclusión 1 Bibliografía 1 Introducción En el presente trabajo buscaré profundizar el significado del amor de Dios, realizando un estudio teológico basado en los pasajes bíblicos más relevantes en que se expresan su amor por la humanidad. Para muchos, el amor constituye el atributo básico, la auténtica naturaleza de Dios. Los pueblos de la antigüedad, ya sean griegos, romanos o egipcios eran politeístas, creían en dioses que por lo general se caracterizaban...
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...Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Introduction Chapter 1 - Priming Chapter 2 - Confabulation Chapter 3 - Confirmation Bias Chapter 4 - Hindsight Bias Chapter 5 - The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy Chapter 6 - Procrastination Chapter 7 - Normalcy Bias Chapter 8 - Introspection Chapter 9 - The Availability Heuristic Chapter 10 - The Bystander Effect Chapter 11 - The Dunning-Kruger Effect Chapter 12 - Apophenia Chapter 13 - Brand Loyalty Chapter 14 - The Argument from Authority Chapter 15 - The Argument from Ignorance Chapter 16 - The Straw Man Fallacy Chapter 17 - The Ad Hominem Fallacy Chapter 18 - The Just-World Fallacy Chapter 19 - The Public Goods Game Chapter 20 - The Ultimatum Game Chapter 21 - Subjective Validation Chapter 22 - Cult Indoctrination Chapter 23 - Groupthink Chapter 24 - Supernormal Releasers Chapter 25 - The Affect Heuristic Chapter 26 - Dunbar’s Number Chapter 27 - Selling Out Chapter 28 - Self-Serving Bias Chapter 29 - The Spotlight Effect Chapter 30 - The Third Person Effect Chapter 31 - Catharsis Chapter 32 - The Misinformation Effect Chapter 33 - Conformity Chapter 34 - Extinction Burst Chapter 35 - Social Loafing Chapter 36 - The Illusion of Transparency Chapter 37 - Learned Helplessness Chapter 38 - Embodied Cognition Chapter 39 - The Anchoring Effect Chapter 40 - Attention Chapter 41 - Self-Handicapping Chapter 42 - Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Chapter 43 - The Moment Chapter 44 - Consistency...
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