Experiments in the Analytical Study of the Bible
Burton Mack as Pioneer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v41i3.11Keywords:
analytic study of religion, Burton Mack, J.Z. Smith, scholarship, theoryAbstract
What it means to study the Bible analytically is current subject to much debate. One scholar who has already spent much of his career wrestling with this very issue in several forms is Burton Mack. In this article I will follow Burton Mack's professional trajectory as he went from a member of the Bultmanian school to an iconoclast in New Testament studies. What I will show is that they key issue that Mack returns to again and again is the need for a theory of Religion in doing Biblical studies. I suggest that those of us committed to the analytical study of the Bible and Religion must learn from Burton Mack that theory is the necessary prerequisite of our work.
References
Arnal, William. 2005. The Symbolic Jesus. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
Avalos, Hector. 2007. The End of Biblical Studies. New York: Prometheus Books.
Bultmann, Rudolf. 1984. The New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Cameron, Ron, and Merrill P. Miller. 2004. Redescribing Christian Origins. Leiden: Brill.
———. 2011. Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
Girard, René. 1986. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
———. 1987. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World. Berkeley: Stanford University Press.
———. 1989. The Scapegoat. Translated by Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., Walter Burkert, René Girard, and Jonathan Smith. 1987. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, Rene Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Mack, Burton L. 1970. “Wisdom Myth and Mythology: An Essay in Understanding a Theological Tradition.” Interpretation 24 (1):46–60.
———. 1973. Logos und Sophia. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
———. 1985. “The Innocent Transgressor: Jesus in Early Christian Myth and History.” Semeia (33): 135–165.
———. 1988. A Myth Of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
———. 1991. “A Myth of Innocence at Sea.” Continuum 1(2):140–157.
———. 1996. “On Redescribing Christian Origins.” Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 8(3):247–269.
———. 2003. The Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
———. 2008. Myth and the Christian Nation: A Social Theory of Religion. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
———. 2011. Christian Mentality: The Entanglements of Power, Violence and Fear. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
McCutcheon, Russell T. 2001. Critics Not Caretakers. New York: State University of New York Press.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1975. “Wisdom and Apocalyptic.” In Religious Syncretism in Antiquity, 131–156. Missoula, Mont: Scholars Press.
Avalos, Hector. 2007. The End of Biblical Studies. New York: Prometheus Books.
Bultmann, Rudolf. 1984. The New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Cameron, Ron, and Merrill P. Miller. 2004. Redescribing Christian Origins. Leiden: Brill.
———. 2011. Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
Girard, René. 1986. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
———. 1987. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World. Berkeley: Stanford University Press.
———. 1989. The Scapegoat. Translated by Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., Walter Burkert, René Girard, and Jonathan Smith. 1987. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, Rene Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Mack, Burton L. 1970. “Wisdom Myth and Mythology: An Essay in Understanding a Theological Tradition.” Interpretation 24 (1):46–60.
———. 1973. Logos und Sophia. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
———. 1985. “The Innocent Transgressor: Jesus in Early Christian Myth and History.” Semeia (33): 135–165.
———. 1988. A Myth Of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
———. 1991. “A Myth of Innocence at Sea.” Continuum 1(2):140–157.
———. 1996. “On Redescribing Christian Origins.” Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 8(3):247–269.
———. 2003. The Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
———. 2008. Myth and the Christian Nation: A Social Theory of Religion. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
———. 2011. Christian Mentality: The Entanglements of Power, Violence and Fear. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
McCutcheon, Russell T. 2001. Critics Not Caretakers. New York: State University of New York Press.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1975. “Wisdom and Apocalyptic.” In Religious Syncretism in Antiquity, 131–156. Missoula, Mont: Scholars Press.
Published
2012-10-09
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Reed, R. (2012). Experiments in the Analytical Study of the Bible: Burton Mack as Pioneer. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 41(3), 11-16. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v41i3.11
