Holy Writ as Oral Lit: The Bible as Folklore [Paperback]

"Dundes observed that variations in the oral tradition were preserved in the Bible precisely because of its sacred nature. To a folklorist, it is utter folly to attempt to reconcile such diversity." Patricia McBroom

Folklore in Oral Transmission:
My dad never described the Old Testament narratives as mythical, but he convincingly argued that since it was written after centuries of oral tradition was tinted with variants of ideas and theologies.
Most biblical scholars acknowledge that the Old Testament was orally transmitted for decades before appearing in written form. Dundes offers a new and exciting way to understand its variant texts, using the analytical framework of folklore to unearth and contrast the multiple versions of nearly every major biblical event, including the creation of woman, the flood, the ten commandments, among many others.

Interpreting the Bible as folklore:
Using his expert knowledge of folklore, Dundes unearths and contrasts multiple versions of most major biblical event, to helps us resolve some of the mysteries and contradictions that evolved during the Bible's prewritten legacy and that persist in the Great Book today. With great reverence for the Bible, Dundes offers a new and exciting way to resolve some of the mysteries and contradictions that evolved during the Bible's prewritten legacy and that still persist today. "People say this is an oral tradition, but then they proceed to search for one true variant," said Dundes, "In oral literature, there is no such thing. This is not meant to be disrespectful, but people should stop worrying about the discrepancies among the stories. They don't matter. This doesn't mean the Bible isn't true, or that it isn't a sacred text," He hastened to explain.

Multiple Versions of same stories?
Professor Dundes reports examples of what he describes as 'multiple versions of various stories' that appear in the Bible. He believes that these stories were circulated for decades and even centuries as an oral tradition. During that time, each version of the stories subtlety changed as it was circulated before it was recorded in written form. From the discrepancies among the various version of the same story, he concluded not only that the Bible contains folklore, but that the Bible is folklore. Dundes writes: "It simply means that the Bible is oral literature that has been written down, and the nature of oral literature is that there must be two or more versions of any story...the Bible clearly manifests the basic distinctive criteria of folklore: namely multiple existence and variation."

Dr. Alan Dundes:
Known as a world class authority on folklore, Alan Dundes, is a professor of folklore and anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. He has written over 30 books based on his studies of the oral traditions of many cultures. In more than 30 books he has unveiled the meanings in the oral traditions of many cultures.

This was a fantastic read. The author step-by-step takes the reader through the basics of oral literature (folklore, folk tales), and gives numerous examples of oral literature in the Bible. Among many other examples, he shows how the two creation stories, the two flood stories, all demonstrate that the Bible, Holy Writ, is an example of a collection of Oral Lit, oral folk tales that the ancient people used to tell each other.
It was a delightful and insightful reading experience for me, and I finished it in a couple hours.

Alan Dundes, one of the U.C.Berkeley's foremost professors, has written a fantastic book again! He proves that the bible's source is oral literature (folklore), thus explaining the different versions of events throughout the bible. Dundes' book is the voice of reason in a sea of confusion surrounding biblical history.

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