Greek Myth and the Bible

by Bruce Louden

Since the nineteenth-century rediscovery of the Gilgamesh epic, we have known that the Bible imports narratives from outside of Israelite culture, refiguring them for its own audience. Only more recently, however, has come the realization that Greek culture is also a prominent source of biblical narratives. Greek Myth and the Bible argues that classical mythological literature and the biblical texts were composed in a dialogic relationship. Louden examines a variety of Greek myths from a range of sources, analyzing parallels between biblical episodes and Hesiod, Euripides, Argonautic myth, selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses , and Homeric epic. This fascinating volume offers a starting point for debate and discussion of these cultural and literary exchanges and adaptations in the wider Mediterranean world and will be an invaluable resource to students of the Hebrew Bible and the influence of Greek myth.

Genres: Christianity, Mythology

250 pages, Hardcover

Published November 16, 2018

Reviews

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information in this book is solid and interesting, however it's a rather difficult book to read because of how the text is structured with parentheses filled with quotes in greek, which makes it difficult to find a flow while reading.

[David Gwartney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the author offers several fascinating parallels between Greek mythology and Biblical stories, providing thought-provoking connections that shed light on stories of the ancient world. On the other hand, the author’s main premise—that Biblical writers merely borrowed and reworked myths they were familiar with—feels reductive. According to the author, the New Testament especially “does not present historical accounts” but instead plugs narratives from the Roman Empire.

While there are undoubtedly valuable insights in this work, the approach is heavy-handed. The assumption that the Bible is nothing more than a collection of borrowed cultural stories overshadows any nuanced exploration of its unique theological and historical framework. It’s as though the author’s central thesis became a hammer, and every detail of the text a nail.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author works to demonstrate that the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament are consistently part of a larger Greek world, a world that contains many polytheistic myths that helped the ancients give meaning in their day. The authors of these texts recontextualized Greek stories and inserted a monotheistic view into these reshaped stories, to show how they viewed God and the world. Some of the authors arguments are more persuasive than others, and I suppose it all comes down to how you read these texts and your experience in reading Greek myth.

Having read Hesiod and Euripides, I found much of Louden's work to be of value. I will probably come back and write a more detailed review, but for now this will do. Now I must get back to my reading list.