Ancient Near Eastern History?

[Josh]

Douglas, I'm curious what you'll be focusing on in the "Near Eastern History" class you'll be teaching.

Any chance you'll be touching on mythological/ historical parallels between ancient Israel and the surrounding Near Eastern cultures?

[Douglas]

I dont think that it would be possible to address the ancient near east without looking hard at the mythology surrounding the whole thing. Having grown up in a very conservative home i always took the biblical story of the creation as a strict play by play description of the creation event. And while it may indeed be more accurate than we know, it was a real eye opener to realize that there where other very similar stories that predate the biblical history by 1000s of years. I always assumed that these other stories where reflections of the biblical story and it never occurred to me that it might be the other way around. Not that i believe the biblical history is based in human myth but perhaps that God used aspects of the cultural heritage to reveal himself, humankind, the problem of sin and his future solution.

I think that it sometimes scares people to see that their own story is not utterly unique. We take comfort in the idea that our story stands alone. And our story is totally different but in reality many aspects of it have parallels and reflections in other stories. The Israelites knew without a doubt that there where other similar stories, they lived in the midst of it, but that did not scare them. They served the living God not idols and that made all the difference.

In my own experience i have learned a lot about God by reading Greek mythology. It allowed me to see very clearly how the God of the Bible was special and unique, especially in how he relates to us. The relationship that is available through the God revealed in the scriptures stands in stark contrast to the manipulating, deceiving, arrogant, often childlike gods of Homer. By immersing myself in pagan mythology i came to realize how special my God really is. He is not a God who sells himself to the highest bidder or in this case whoever sacrifices the biggest bull. He is the God who loves the weak, defends the orphan and the widow, who loves the illegal immigrant. He is the God who walks through the Garden looking for his friend, who desires relationship and offers us a kingdom in exchange for love.

You can learn a lot from pagan myth!

In short, we will definitely take a look at the mythology an its similarities to the bible, and we will try to wrestle with the implications. I am looking forward to what i will learn as well!

[Josh]

Don't have time to respond to this yet (looking forward to it), but happy birthday!

[Josh]

In my own experience i have learned a lot about God by reading Greek mythology.

Agreed. I like how you went into the paradox of how pagan mythology revealsboth that our story is and isn't unique.
Quite true.

To me, it's affirming to find similar truths in pagan mythology and the judeo-christian story- an indication that they both refer to real events or ideas that have historical import. And, as you indicated, it's extremely interesting then to note what the divergence between the two tells us.

If it would be of any help, I've posted three articles along these lines on the QAC forum:

Adam and Eve/ Prometheus and Pandora
Paganism's Good Dreams/ Dying and Rising Gods
Which is Older? Monotheism or Polytheism?

I'm curious what you guys think.

[Douglas]

I was reading this last week about Catholic missions in China and the struggle that took place (and still takes place) attempting to convert Chinese people to Christianity. One of the most successful missionaries name Mateo Ricci worked very hard to find bridges from Chinese thought to Christian. He ended up discovering monotheistic tendencies in the writing of Confucius. He was able to use this truth buried in Chinese philosophy to reach the educated class of his day.

It used to scare me to see Christian idea reflected in pagan tradition. I guess that is made me feel like Christianity was only one among many. Now i see that the truth that we find in these other religions/traditions can serve as bridges into new cultures. And that God has planted his truth deep in the thought of the human race.

[Douglas]

Reflecting on your other postings: One of the obvious but extremely important differences between all the other mythologies that i have seen is the place of Humankind within the creation. In most the Human race is almost an afterthought or a byproduct of the creation event. In some if i remember correctly we were an unintentional accident. In Genesis however humankind is the pinnacle of the creation event. Not only that but the relationship between the creator and humankind is the center of the conflict. God desires relationship but man thwarts it. The rest of the story is God plan for restoring relationship.

This as far as i have seen is drastically different from all other creation mythologies. I think that we can learn a lot about the uniqueness of God's plan in light of the other mythologies. The biblical account stands alone in terms of its focus and themes.