It makes for a surprisingly coherent narrative and is basically a inhumanly complex hyperlinked work that only the internet is more complex than.... and the internet aint coherent at ALL.
It does not hide the ugly spots the way clowns like Josephus does and he is usually considered a great historian. Reading his work the jews were simply marvelous with not a single bad seed anywhere until after the romans arrived... its nauseating.
It has been misunderstood half the time (on purpose these days) but has not actually been directly misproven anywhere.
That is a great question. There are at least three things to bear in mind when thinking about it.
First, plenty of comparative material from the Ancient Near East shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the narratives recorded in the Old Testament can be regarded as historically possible. Evidence ranges from archeological discoveries in Israel and elsewhere, to literature which shows close similarities with the biblical text. Also, serious students of biblical history have shown that the narratives of the Old Testament are as historical as the accounts of Herodotus, regarded by many as the father of history.
Secondly, it is always useful to be aware of the various literary types (laws, narratives, poems, proverbs, genealogies etc.) which make up the Old Testament. All of them communicate God's truth in ways which are subtly different. Yet, there is little doubt that we are talking of the same truth. For example, to read the parable of the talking trees in Judges 9 as an actual account of what happened does not falsify the historicity of the text. It just shows one's incompetence as a reader. It's the same as trying to pretend your phone book was actually a great novel.
Thirdly, "fact" and "myth" are incredibly misleading when applied to the Old Testament. If one uses them to make a distinction between what is true and what is false, they are not too beneficial. Christians through the centuries have believed that the written Word of God is true in its entirety. If, on the other hand, these two terms are used to separate "historical" from "made up" things, we return to not being able to distinguish literary types. Knowing how to do that will allow us to read the Old Testament in the same spirit in which it was written.
Finally, speaking as a believing and practicing scholar, I would like to encourage everyone to give the Old Testament the time it deserves. As the new year approaches, allow God to speak to you through it as you ponder not whether it is true, but HOW it is true.
@ace, "....allow God to speak to you through it as you ponder not whether it is true, but HOW it is true." -------------------------------------------------------------Great Advice! Being a arm chair semi-scholar, I couldn't agree more! I've come to the conclusion that the Text is infallible but not inerrant.
