The Bible Without Theology: The Theological Tradition and Alternatives to It

By Robert A. Oden

Book Overview

In this thought-provoking volume, Robert A. Oden Jr. advocates stripping away the theological and historiographic biases that underlie modern biblical scholarship in order to arrive at a nontheological historical reading of the Bible. Oden calls into question a scholarly tradition that accepts biblical writers' views of themselves and their neighbors at face value and reproduces a view of Israelite religion as divinely guided and inherently superior.

Using cross-cultural and interdisciplinary methodology, Oden investigates three biblical issues--the clothing of Adam and Eve, Jacob's name change to Israel, and ritual prostitution and Deuteronomy--in light of extra-biblical evidence. He also challenges scholars' assumptions of Scripture as monotheistic and proposes treating biblical narrative as myth rather than as historical fact.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 025206870X
• ISBN13: 9780252068706
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"