Remythologising The Bible

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 4

Remythologising The Bible

The God of the Beginnings. By Robert Aron. Hamish Hamilton. 244 pp.

From the beginning man has committed himself to a religious attitude. The author traces man’s early worship of the sun as a god and the primitive tribes’ identification of God with birds and animals. He then follows on to the Old Testament, with the God of Genesis, the God of Abraham, and the God who gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.

In tracing the development of man’s idea of God, Mr Aron has drawn upon the Bible, the rabbinical tradition as expressed in the Mid-

rash and the Talmud and the discoveries of contemporary archaeology. From these three kinds of documentation, the author remythologises the biblical stories of Genesis and elaborates the account of God’s dealings with Abraham and the great saga of Moses in splendid fashion. The religious significance of the issues involved, together with their contemporary relevance, is thrown into relief. ’The God of the Beginnings” is the fruit of scholarship and religious Insight Suitable for general reading, it should enable many readers to approach the early books of the Old Testament with a new appreciation.