Is the Bible History, Myth, or Legend?

 

Author’s Note

 

“We are meaning-seeking creatures. Dogs, as far as we know, do not agonize about the canine condition, worry about the plight of dogs in other parts of the world, or try to see their lives from a different perspective. But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value” 

― Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth

 

Reflections

 

        As I declared in the first chapter, this journey will not be for the “faint-hearted.” In this presentation we will talk in more depth about whether the Bible is inerrant. Is every word in the Bible inspired by God, or does the Bible also contain myth and/or legend, used by the authors to make a point?

 

First, we need to define how the terms, history, myth, and legend will be used in this presentation. These definitions were given by Bart Ehrman in his course entitled, In the Beginning.

 

“History is a reconstruction of what probably happened in the past, based on surviving evidence. Myth is a story about God or the gods and their activities, which tries to make sense of the world and our place in it. Legend is fictional narrative about real or alleged historical figures to entertain, to teach a moral, and/or to explain why things are as they are.”b

In his course, In the Beginning, Bart Ehrman makes a compelling argument that the Bible is an anthology of books, written by different authors, at different times, each with a different agenda. He uses the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, as a representative example. He claims the first eleven chapters of Genesis is myth, while chapters 12-50 (patriarchal history) are a long series of legends. Most biblical scholars believe the patriarchal history as entirely legendary.

 

         So, what are the lessons of the legends in the context of the Pentateuch. The stories are meant to show the following: what makes the nation of Israel special, where did Israel come from, why did Israel end up enslaved in Egypt.

 

The Pentateuch can be thought of as a microcosm of the Bible. The Bible can be good news for the faithful, but bad news for everyone else. If modern day scholars think the Pentateuch as well as the rest of the Bible is predominantly myth or legend, what major agreements on the composition of the Pentateuch do they agree on. They believe the book was not written by one author, but the first five books of the Bible are in fact a compilation of separate sources composed by different schools of thought. In additions, scholars believe the written book dates centuries after the events it narrates and is composed of various sources by different authors at different times, each source with a distinctive view. They also believe the book is not always, usually, or ever historically accurate, but does provide important information about the times they were written.

 

It is difficult to read the Bible as inerrant, considering the many inconsistencies found in its’ text. Although I agree there are profound truths found in the Scripture, the facts are suspicious. When compared to historical facts or scientific laws, a thoughtful reader of the Bible is forced to conclude the text is not inerrant or reliable. The Bible should be read as highly contextual, wonderfully rich, but a product of a different time and place.

 

Silent Prayer

 

Oh, creator God, help us navigate the immense collection of human literary works, to discover the absolute truths of Your Being!!

 

Music

 

Bible Verses by Blake Shelton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9GJlnQmOgU

 

Have a great day!

Barry