The Mythic Past by Thompson, Thomas L. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Preface: The academic debate Part One: How Stories Talk About The Past

Introduction to Part One Chapter 1: History and origins: the changing past

1: When texts are confirmed by texts 2: There is nothing new under the sun 3: Stories of conflict 4: The Bible as survival literature

Chapter 2: Confusing stories with historical evidence

Chapter 3: How the Bible talks about the past

1: Stories and their references to an historical world 2: Don’t go Back to Egypt for horses 3: A story’s access to reality 4: Techniques in writing Genesis 5: The biblical Israel as fiction

Chapter 4: Myths of origins

1: The origin stories of humanity 2: Of nations and heroes 3: Of God’s people 4: A collapsing paradigm; the Bible as history

Part Two: How Historians Create A Past

Introduction to Part Two Chapter 5: Beginnings

1: Genesis: c. 1,400,000–6000 BCE 2: An African Eden: c, 7000–6000 BCE 3: Paradise lost: c. 6500–4500 BCE 4: A Mediterranean economy: c, 6000–4000 BCE 5: A heartland of villages: c. 3500–2400 BCE 6: On towns and trade

Chapter 6: A Mediterranean economy

1: Farmers and shepherds: a shifting economy; c, 2400–1750 BCE 2: The early West Semites 3: Palestine conquers Egypt? c, 1730–1570 BCE 4: The Hyksos in Palestine? 5: Armageddon and Egypt’s adventures in Asia: c. 1468 and 1288 BCE

Chapter 7: Palestine’s many peoples

1: The great Mycenaean drought; c. 1300–1050 BCE 2: Developing highland settlements 3: Judea’s independent history: c. 1000–700 BCE 4: The states of Israel and Judah: c. 1000–600 BCE 5: The anatomy of the gods

Chapter 8: Under the shadow of empires

1: The war for the Jezreel 2: The historical Israel 3: Deportation and return 4: Palestine under a shifting empire

Chapter 9: Historians create history

1: The historical David and the problem of eternity 2: The exiles: historical sources 3: The myth of exile

Part Three: The Bible’s Place In History

Introduction to Part Three Chapter 10: The Bible’s social and historical worlds

1: Israel and Palestine’s hidden peoples 2: The theology of the may: sectarian reflections on life and society 3: New life and resurrection 4: Prospects for the Bible and history 5: Continuities and discontinuities in Palestine’s history 6: Many fudasims 7: The ‘Jews’ according to Josephus

Chapter 11: The Bible’s literary world

1: On Literature 2: Tradition and story variants 3: Copenhagen Lego–blocks 4: The Bible and its authors 5: The Function of commentary

Chapter 12: The Bible’s theological world I: how God began

1: What the Bible knows and doesn’t know about God 2: Yahweh as God in Genesis 3: Yahweh as godfather 4: How Yahweh became God

Chapter 13: The Bible’s theological world II: the myths of the sons of God

1: The birth of a son of God as a traditional plot motif 2: Humanity and the divine 3: Humanity and murder 4: The birth of the son of God and the sending of a saviour 5: Samson as son of God and Nazirite 6: The classic forms of the tale type: Moses, Samuel, John and Jesus

Chapter 14: The Bible’s theological world III: Israel as God’s son

1: Divine presence and the son of God 2: Israel as a son of God 3: The role of Immanuel and the son of God 4: The prophets and the son of God motif 5: The parable of Yahweh and his wives 6: Israel as God’s beloved

Chapter 15: The Bible’s intellectual world

1: Whose history is it? 2: Theology as critical reflection 3: The Bible and the theologians 4: The prophets and history 5: The meaning of texts

Index of texts cited