Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 18:53 (Spring 2014)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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JODT 18:53 (Spring 2014) p. 75

Book Reviews

Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament by John D. Currid. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013. 153 pp., paper, $17.99.

One of the thriving criticisms against biblical Christianity today is that much of Scripture, especially the Old Testament stories, was borrowed from ancient accounts found in pagan mythologies. Since there are numerous narratives within ancient Near East studies that are very similar to biblical stories (e.g. creation, the flood, the exodus), it is now accepted by secular and liberal scholarship that the authors of Scripture merely borrowed these myths and invented a Jewish monotheistic storyline (pp. 22–23). Therefore, biblical accounts of those stories are just as mythical as pagan accounts. Many evangelical scholars are being influenced to believe in such manner, claiming that the Old Testament stories are “firmly rooted in the worldview of its time” (Peter Enns) (p. 23). Due to this influence, John Walton stated, “The early accounts of Genesis are ‘culturally descriptive rather than revealed truth,’” which leads Currid to conclude, “Many evangelical Old Testament scholars emphasize the similarities and parallels between ancient Near Eastern literature and biblical writings, and they do not recognize, to any great degree, the foundational difference between the two” (p. 23).

Currid disagrees with these scholars. He explored the precise relationship of the Old Testament to Near Eastern literature and concluded that the Old Testament authors did not borrow from ancient Near East legends but actually challenged these myths by revealing the true account and the truth with regard to God. He called this “polemical theology” which “takes well-known expressions and motifs from the ancient Near Eastern milieu and applies them to the person and work of Yahweh” (p. 25). Furthermore, “the primary purpose of polemical theology is to demonstrate emphatically and graphically the distinctions between the worldview of the Hebrews and the beliefs and practices of the rest of the ancient Near East” (p. 25). In addition, “the biblical authors refuted the pagan myths by identifying the holy Lord as the true Creator and Ruler of the cosmos and of history” (p. 31).

Currid applied this approach to some of the best-known accounts in the Old Testament: creation (ch. 3), the flood (ch. 4), Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (ch. 5), the birth of Moses (ch. 7) and the exodus stories (chs. 8–10). His conclusion concerning the birth of Moses is representative:

JODT 18:53 (Spring 2014) p. 76

“The writer [of the biblical story] takes the famous pagan myth and turns it on its head in order to ridicule Egypt and to highlight the truth of the Hebrew wor...

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