Judean Myth and Hebrew Mythology: SBL abstract

Well, I got my paper abstract for the November meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature off yesterday. And two days before the deadline! I ROCK! Hopefully it will get the green light and I will finally get to see San Francisco! Anyway, here it is:

Judaean Mythology and Hebrew Myth

An excessive reductionism has long marked much scholarly discussion of myth and the Hebrew Bible. This reductionism is based on a strict delineation of myth as a formal genre and the dominance of ANE cosmogonic and cosmological mythology as exemplars of myth against which biblical materials are analyzed. Moreover, vestiges of the theological and ethnocentric denigration of mythology vis-a-vis history remain.

Specialized work on select books and passages in the Hebrew Bible have successfully avoided these pitfalls. The field as a whole, however, requires the consolidation of these advances and reframing the boundaries of ancient Judean mythology  as distinct from the various mythologies of surrounding peoples (as all forms of mythology are culturally specific).

This paper argues that diverse subfields within Hebrew Bible studies could benefit from reforming around theories and insights into religious, political, ethnic, and national mythology from around the world and the various functions and contexts for such myths. These sub-disciplines include, but are not restricted to diachronic studies, the roles and status of historical narrative for social and religious identity, and the rhetorical dynamics and ritual functions of text such as numerous psalms that appeal to past divine actions.