Ancient Eastern Thought and the Old Testament

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
THE BIBLE AMONG THE MYTHS JOHN, N. OSWALT

A SUMMARY PAPER OF THE TEXT ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN THOUGHT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUBMITTED
TO DR. RANDY G. HANEY

DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY

BY

03 MARCH 2013
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND METHODS 3 CHAPTER 2: COMPARATIVE STUDIES, SCHOLARSHIP, AND THEOLOGY 6 CHAPTER 3: SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST 10 CHAPTER 4: THE GODS 14 CHAPTER 5: TEMPLES AND RITUALS 19 CHAPTER 6: STATE AND FAMILY RELIGION 22 CHAPTER 7: COSMIC GEOGRAPHY 25 CHAPTER 8: COSMOLOGY AND COSMOGONY 28 CHAPTER 9: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST HUMAN ORIGINS AND ROLE 31 CHAPTER 10: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST 34 CHAPTER 11: ENCOUNTERING THE PRESENT 38 CHAPTER 12: ENCOUNTERING THE PRESENT 43 CHAPTER 13: ENCOUNTERING THE PRESENT 46 CHAPTER 14: PONDERING THE FUTURE ON EARTH AND AFTER DEATH 49 POSTSCRIPT 53

CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND METHODS
History
Thousands of texts were unearthed, translated and analyzed starting in the eighteenth century. Assyriologist Freidrich Delitzsch claimed that the Bible was plagiarized from Mesopotamian literature. This was an important statement as it would indicate that the Old Testament was not divine and that Christianity was rooted in mythology.
As biblical scholars came to the defense of the Bible, a sharp division was created between a confessional standpoint and the secular view. Over a century of time allowed scholars to recognize that Delitzsch was quite biased in his assertions.
W. W. Hallo introduced a more balanced approach to the argument; his approach was referred to as “contextual approach” whose goal was to identify both similarities and differences between the Bible and mythology.
Methodology
What is Comparative Study?
Background or cultural studies, scrutinize literature and archeology in order to “reconstruct the behavior, beliefs, culture, values, and world view of the people.”
Comparative studies is a subdivision of cultural

Cited: Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. [ 2 ]. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI Baker academic, 2006). 38 [ 3 ] [ 8 ]. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI Baker academic, 2006). 181 [ 9 ] [ 14 ]. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI Baker academic, 2006). 225 [ 15 ] [ 20 ]. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI Baker academic, 2006). 301 [ 21 ] [ 22 ]. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI Baker academic, 2006). 331