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The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition

Online ISBN:
9780190226824
Print ISBN:
9780199370252
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition

Debra Scoggins Ballentine
Debra Scoggins Ballentine

Assistant Professor of Religion

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
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Published online:
18 June 2015
Published in print:
1 June 2015
Online ISBN:
9780190226824
Print ISBN:
9780199370252
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The divine warrior defeats the sea-god or sea-dragon to secure his throne. For over two thousand years, authors adapted this theme of divine combat in order to validate their preferred ideologies and socio-political arrangements, and to delegitimize others. The conflict topos was adapted within literature from Mesopotamia, ancient Syria, and Judah; in the first- and early second-century ce Judean milieu, including traditions focused on Jesus/Christos; and in select rabbinic texts. A king, such as the biblical king David or Assyrian king Sennacherib, dynasty, group, or institution identified with the victorious deity is legitimated through such association, while those aligned with the defeated sea or dragons are delegitimized and appear destined for defeat. This book situates study of the conflict topos within contemporary theorization of myth by Bruce Lincoln, Russell McCutcheon, and Jonathan Z. Smith, who emphasize the political functions of myth. Narratives of divine combat and instances of the conflict motif naturalize socially and politically contingent phenomena, such as the institutions of kingship and temple, specific divine hierarchies, and the authority of particular individuals, by linking them to narrative events that purport to be universal and foundational.

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