Structuralist Interpretations of Biblical Myth

The essays in this 1983 volume offer interesting and thought-provoking structuralist insights for a variety of particular cases in the Scriptures.

Edmund Leach (Author), D. Alan Aycock (Author)

9780521274920, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 September 1983

154 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.18 kg

Through the application of anthropological techniques for analysing myth the essays in this 1983 volume offer interesting and thought-provoking structuralist insights for a variety of particular cases in the Scriptures. They also give some account of past interactions between anthropologists and Christian theologians, and enter the debate on the historicity of Biblical events. Edmund Leach has been interested for many years in the implications of a structuralist mode of myth analysis for the explanation of scriptural texts and problems. His essays in this book continue the line of enquiry he first developed in Genesis as Myth (1969) and he pursues his arguments here with characteristic colour and brilliance of exposition. With the two pieces by Dr Alan Aycock on related themes, this volume makes a fascinating and controversial contribution to the study and interpretation of the Bible.

1. Introduction Edmund Leach
2. Anthropological approaches to the study of the Bible during the twentieth century Edmund Leach
3. Why did Moses have a sister? (The Royal Anthropological Institute Presidential Address for 1972) Edmund Leach
4. Melchisedech and the emperor: icons of subversion and orthodoxy Edmund Leach
5. Against genres: are parables lights set in candlesticks or put under a bushel? Edmund Leach
6. The fate of Lot's wife: structural mediation in Biblical mythology D. Alan Aycock
7. The mark of Cain D. Alan Aycock
Author index
Index of biblical references.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]