Abrahamic philosophy
Abrahamic mythology is a term used in comparative mythology to refer to those aspects of religious belief and tradition common to the Abrahamic religions, as distinct from those of the "Pagan religions" from which most mainstream research in this field suggests they developed.
Controversy of terminology
Some Abrahamic religionists reject the categorisation of their beliefs as mythology, arguing that the term connotes untruth and has more commonly been used to refer to beliefs they regard as fiction. Comparative mythologists might respond that mythology is not necessarily ahistorical nor counterfactual, and correct use within its field of such terminology which in this case uniquely encompasses the shared religious conceptions of the Abrahamic faiths is not intended to be argumentative, nor to imply disrespect.
Abrahamic views
The traditional perspective of adherents of the Abrahamic faiths is that there is indeed a common source and history for the world's religions, and borrowing which has produced a shared folklore, which is a kind of shared memory of the truth, partially obscured elsewhere, but preserved in Scripture by divine revelation. The view does not claim, as it may at first seem, that the pagans borrowed from Scripture; but rather the view is that Scripture directly confronts the history, folklore and religious perspectives of the surrounding peoples, contradicting its connection to idols, and in contrast re-orienting religion toward one God, creator, and ruler over all, who is described as an attentive actor in history. The constant refrain of these religions is, "remember".
This view has recently been challenged on multiple fronts, by modern scholarship, as partially described below.
Secular views
Although not all agree on the reliability of Old Testament accounts of Abraham, most scholars who use the term "Abrahamic Mythology" believe these belief systems originated four to five thousand years ago under the influence of earlier traditions — primarily Chaldean mythology — and subsequently developed through interaction with contemporaneous religions such as Zoroastrianism. Many historians, comparative mythologists and archeologists came to hold this view towards the end of the 19th Century, as academia became increasingly secularized and non-Abrahamic analogues of the central stories came to light.
Typically, features of resemblance are pointed out between the Abrahamic traditions and those of far greater antiquity, in the effort to trace the borrowing and amendations that may have resulted in the Abrahamic stories. While there are obvious and striking similarities between, for example, the Sumerian myth of Enuma Elish and the later Abrahamic stories of creation, and the cataclysmic flood in the 11th tablet of the epic poem The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Noahic Deluge of Abrahamic legend, there are also a number of other, finer points of similarity shared with other religions of Middle-East. On the basis of such numerous similarities, it is theorized that the Abrahamic myths either originated in Chaldean mythology itself, or at least borrowed heavily from it, as such similarities seem unlikely to have appeared by chance. Higher critics in the academic mainstream have tended to incorporate some of these secular historical perspectives, including the point of view that the Bible, the Qur'an and Hadiths represent a tradition of mythology, which was originally based on some true historical events that were gradually supernaturalized, incorporating a mythical and allegorical character. Consequently, theologians who have adopted this perspective might argue that if the stories are to be seen as true, they should be judged true by other standards than those of modern historical science.
Abrahamic mythology as includes (but not limited to):
Closely related, but distinct from Abrahamic mythology are:
- Babylonian and Assyrian religion
- Babylonian mythology
- Egyptian mythology
- Habiru mythology, the early Paganism of the Habiru (Hebrews) before converting to monotheism
Religions whose mythologies represent a blend of Abrahamic and Pagan myths or other sources include:
- Stregheria (a mixture of Roman Catholicism, Roman mythology, and Etruscan mythology)
- Vodun (a mixture of Roman Catholicism and African mythology)
- Gnostic mythology (largely a mixture of early Christian mythology and Greek philosophy, in particular Neoplatonism)
Recent developments
In recent times, modern historical method has been applied to the sacred texts. These efforts seek to discover whether aspects of the ancient stories can be shown to be historical by the standards of historical science. For example, a leading archaeologist Kenneth Kitchen, who authored the work On the Reliability of the Old Testament, offers the opinion that the patriarchal narratives of the Bible are historical, in contrast to myth (Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?, Biblical Archeological Review 21:02, Mar/Apr 1995). Prominent Yale archaeologist, Millar Burrows stated the following: "On the whole, however, archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record...Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics." [1]. Apologists working from an historical perspective, offer evidence that archaeology greatly corroborates the Bible. [2][3] [4]
