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The Bible, like any “real” mythology is full of inconsistencies and contradictions and unanswered questions. In contrast, a literary “mythology” created by a si

The Bible, like any “real” mythology is full of inconsistencies and contradictions and unanswered questions. In contrast, a literary “mythology” created by a single author can be logically and tonaly consistent. I think Tolkien appeals to people because it has the feel of mythology, legend and ancient history, but still is a literary creation which satifies modern need for logic and modern morality.

wl 2y ago
It's a mistake to look at the creation narratives in the Bible and talk about inconsistencies and contradictions. There's an implicit assumption when you go down that route that we're discussing a single text. We don't do the same thing with, say, the ancient Egyptians, who had at least four distinct creation traditions. We only do this with the Biblical creation narratives because the redactors of Genesis started out with one creation narrative and then followed with another. (And let's not forget about the other creation traditions found in Psalm 104 and Job 38-42, which are quite different from those in Genesis!) But notably, the redactors didn't rationalize those distinct traditions into a single, consistent narrative. That's a later reading. If we try to venture into the minds of the redactors, they probably saw value in preserving these distinct traditions.