Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible

by John H. Walton

Polemical comparative studies can take many forms and in some ways can be thought of as dominating the field of study. Polemics are often encountered in the work of those who bring to the comparative task presuppositions about the biblical text that directly contradict the apparent claims of the text. When a scholar believes that Moses, Abraham, or David did not exist and that the texts are simply later legends that have grown up around fictional characters, comparative study is going to be used to substantiate that skepticism and vindicate it. Scholars who believe that no flood of cosmic proportions ever occurred will understandably be inclined to bring their comparative study to the task of demonstrating the mythological and derivative nature of the biblical text. In these cases, whether the interpreter has an ax to grind or simply presuppositions to support, the historical, literary, and eventually confessional value of the text is undermined.