The mythic past cover

The mythic past

by Thomas L. Thompson

"The Mythic Past is the first accessible overview and synthesis of two decades of scholarship on various aspects of early Palestine history - linguistic, economic, agricultural, and archaeological. While its controversial conclusion - that the Old Testament offers absolutely no historical evidence for the early history of Israel - will surely draw fire from conservative Jews, Catholics, and Evangelicals alike, the author's insistence on the Old Testament as a great collection of literature offers refreshing new ways to read it. By separating the Bible from history, we are not getting rid of the Bible; instead, we are reading it as it was meant to be read - as stories and legends, as some of the world's most beautiful poetry, pious, lyrical, and erotic, as epic narratives and wondrous folktales, often stunningly profound and evocative, as romances and adventure stories both moralistic and sentimental."--BOOK JACKET.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?