Myth and Reality in the Old Testament

by Brevard S. Childs

Explore biblical theology with monographs from a diversity of experts. The Studies in Biblical Theology series includes a wealth of resources to help you understand the development of various doctrines, concepts, and terminology across the Old and New Testaments. Investigate the characteristics of worship in the early church with studies on its liturgy and sacraments. Fine-tune your understanding of Jesus' ministry by exploring his wilderness experience and the nature of his mission. Delve into detailed word studies, investigate Christological titles used by Paul, and come to a new appreciation of the Ten Commandments. These in-depth treatments will give you a better grip on key theological themes found throughout the Bible.

Genres: Biblical Studies

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Brevard Springs Childs was Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), and one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century. Childs is particularly noted for pioneering canonical criticism, a way of interpreting the Bible that focuses on the text of the biblical canon itself as a finished product. In fact, Childs disliked the term, believing his work to represent an entirely new departure, replacing the entire historical-critical method. Childs set out his canonical approach in his Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970) and applied it in Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979). This latter book has been described as "one of the most discussed books of the 1980s".

Reviews

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Childs develops a helpful definition of myth as a perspective on reality rooted in the primeval past and linked to cultic practices. He then surveys a few OT texts containing mythic elements and the ways in which those elements were assimilated into Hebrew theology. Lastly, he contrasts Israel's view of reality (space and time) with the views of the surrounding peoples.

While I appreciate the definition of myth provided here, Childs then proceeds to pit myth against OT theology rather than allowing the final form of the text (a quintessentially Childs emphasis) to inform us how myth might have functioned in Israel. It seems he does not consider that Israel might have its own genuine mythology.

His source-critical reconstructions of the biblical texts are interesting. I appreciate that, in contrast to the Documentary Hypothesis, he imagines the various authors building on each other's work rather than their respective texts being cobbled together from disparate sources by a later editor. Although I don't accept the traditional division into JEDP, this is undoubtedly closer to how the Pentateuch was written -- organically rather than artificially.

Finally, the analysis of Hebrew thinking about space and time is interesting and contains many helpful insights. It isn't entirely flawless, though. Especially egregious is his use of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis when discussing the Israelite's language about time evidencing a not-strictly-linear perception of chronology. Still, there is good material here.

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 2 out of 5]

A big disappointment. This seems to me to be a grand display of cognitive dissonance: Child’s infatuation with source criticism doesn’t abide his commitment to the canonical context as the primary hermeneutical context in interpretation. Pretty baffling.

[Samuel Bierig · Rating 2 out of 5]

welp, there's that...probably the weakest thing i ever did reads from Childs

[Benedict Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Childs shows that the language of 'myth' used to describe the Old Testament is not the same as 'fiction' or 'untruth.' He argues that myth encompasses reality as the ancients understood it. Thus, myth is inseparable from reality. This is opposed to the post-Enlightenment idea that reality has nothing to do with the supernatural; whereas for the Old Testament authors, 'myths' were very much what constituted their understanding of reality. This means that one should be wary of importing modern categories of thinking to determine the meaning of certain Old Testament myths.

A side note: my lecturer said that this was Childs' early work. The focus on myth (especially in his treatment of the creation account) reflects the influence of Gunkel.

Whether one accepts Childs' theses, the book is a short, helpful, though quite technical treatment on how myth relates to history. I am slightly disappointed that Childs never really pins down an exact definition of 'history' according to the Bible's own terms.

[Richard Brand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the whole series of these Studies in Biblical Theology and I am reading them. This is #27. While I managed to understand most of it, the distinctions Childs makes get a little too technical for me in some places. There are places where he makes deductions in a sweeping manor that he claims are based on the evidence he has presented and I only saw a couple of hints at what he was suggesting. He posits a concept of myth which is not hard to understand, and he claims that the Old Testament has many of those same features but has modified them to fit its own concept of reality which is God creating them as new people. This study was early I think in the time of developing biblical theology and may have been important. I am not sure that it is still important to the scholars of today. Nor am I sure what good it would do me in my preaching efforts.