Biblical Hebrew Forum

["James Spinti" <JSpinti AT Eisenbrauns.com>]

The definition of myth has been argued about for more than 100 years.
History of Religion people have a grand time writing long books about it
all the time. If you want a good overview of the current state of the
research (status questionis in scholar speak), check a recent
dissertation. One that I just read that takes a somewhat modified
neo-structuralist approach is "Reading Joshua as Christian Scripture"
(http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/EARREADIN). 

I think a lot of scholars are still operating with Childs' definition
from the 1960's; a recent book that takes that approach is John Oswalt's
"The Bible Among Other Myths" from Zondervan (disclaimer: he was one of
my seminary professors). 

In summary, the definition of myth is slippery and means many different
things in the scholarly literature. Always check to see what the
particular author you are reading means by the word. If you are reading
in the less scholarly, less technical sphere, then George's definition
will hold; otherwise, all bets are off.

HTH,
James

________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of George Athas
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 8:31 PM
To: B-Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Myth and Legend (was Genesis 30:20-30)

My definitions of the genres are:

Myth: A story that takes place without any real time markers, and so can
be deemed 'timeless' or 'primordial'. The characters are, therefore,
almost always gods.

Legend: A story located within time with predominantly human
protagonists. It possibly derives from an actual historical event, but
need not do so. In any case, the story has accumulated many extra
features throughout its transmission so that the narrative becomes
'larger than life' as it were. These features include such things as
supernatural events, superhuman feats, subplots, etc.

Oh, and Kevin, you make a very good point.

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au

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