The book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, takes place in Narnia. Narnia is a land of talking animals. This story appeals to a younger audience, since they are interested in animals and magical creatures. One of the main characters, Aslan, is the lion who rules Narnia. According to the passage, Aslan is a type of god-like figure because of his long life, immense power, and benevolence. It is very fascinating to note that, when they hear Aslan's name, the children recognize his power, but also become more themselves. The physical form of the lion does not matter. The author uses a lion because a child associates a lion as being scary, but in the story the lion is kind and brave. Aslan's characteristics alter the young readers…
Author John N. Oswalt begins The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? with a concise and well-written introduction that whets the reader’s appetite, compelling one to continue reading. He begins by informing the reader that his novel has been in the works dating all of the way back to the 1960s, when he attended the Asbury Theological Seminary. Oswalt quickly points out that one of the main points that the book will focus on is determining if “the religion of the Old Testament [is] essentially similar to, or essentially different from, the religions of its neighbors.”1 Oswalt is swift to acknowledge a major difference between the Old Testament and the religions of the Israelites Near Eastern neighbors. The divine medium of the Israelites’ neighbors was nature. On the other hand, the Israelites relied upon a unique human-historical experience.…
The Narnia series can be seen as a symbolic reiteration of classic biblical stories. The seven books attempt to recreate everything from major events in the Bible – Genesis and Revelation, the creation and end of the world – to popular medieval saint’s life. In The Magician’s Nephew, the reader is first introduced to the world of Narnia, along with Polly and Digory, the first children from our world to enter Narnia. As Genesis tells of the creation of the world, so The Magician’s Nephew explains how Narnia came to exist and introduces the reader to Aslan, the creator and God figure, and Jadis, the Satan figure, through whose presence at creation evil enters the world. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe introduces the four Pevensie children – Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy…
In the Cheyenne Myth, “How the World was Made,” and the Hebrew story, “In the Beginning,”…
It is easy to see that C.S. Lewis intended his novel to be an allegory for Christianity, with his use of Aslan as a representation of Jesus and his example of the cross in the stone table. Lewis shows that one can create an entertaining, fun children’s story while also giving more experienced readers a deeper meaning to think about. His success teaches writers that they should not be afraid to engage in silly, fantastical subject matter even if their underlying theme is…
John N. Oswalt has spent much time specifically researching and studying the Ancient Near East. His work in this field began after he was first introduced to it in the 1960’s while taking a course called, “The Literature of the Ancient Near East”. After his time at Asbury Theological Seminary, Oswalt began further study in the Mediterranean Studies Department of Brandeis University. While there, he further developed his knowledge and understanding of the Ancient Near East and later, further developed said knowledge by means of thinking them through with his own students. John Oswalt has now, per this book, taught at Asbury Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Wesley Biblical Seminary.…
John N. Oswalt has long thought about the issue at hand regarding the bible and it’s relation, if any, to the study of myths. Beginning first in a course at Asbury Theological Seminary and evolving later through studies about the Mediterranean at Brandeis University, Oswalt has intently studied the topic and cultural impact over a significant period of time. This intentional period of study has lead Oswalt to the position posed through this book; “is the religion of the Old Testament essentially similar to, or essentially different from, the religion of its neighbors?” In particular within the contemporary study of both history and myth, does the Bible fit within a particular definition?…
The Tree of Knowledge is a sacred object found in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Knowledge is a reminder is a reminder still used in the contemporary world to not be fooled by evil. In Christian mythology, eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil was the initial sin committed by Adam and Eve that became known later as the fall of man, Adam and Eve died spiritually immediately following eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, their sin separated them from God.…
The book opens with an introduction comparing the study of the Old Testament and the other religions and cultures of other peoples from the Ancient Near East. Scholars used to believe that the Old Testament was unique among other beliefs in the Ancient Near East but they now view the Old Testament as identical to other religions of its day and time.…
The author, a research professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary by the name of John N. Oswalt, attempts to explain the similarities and differences of the Holy Scripture and its teachings from that of the neighboring Ancient Near East beliefs. Moreover, he attempts to answer the question of how scholarly opinions of the disagreements found between Genesis and Babylonian accounts of the origins of the world.…
In The Bible Among the Myths, Oswalt states, “If the historical basis on which the supposed revelation [the Bible] rested was false, then why should we give any special credence to the ideas resting on that basis” (p. 31). Please post a 400-word response to Oswalt’s statement. Seek to answer whether or not one could trust a historically false document to be theologically accurate? If not, why? If so, how? While sources are not required, you may support your answer from the Bible, your textbooks, or other sources as you see fit.…
“Legend of the Beginning” is a creation story about Old Man who travels through the land creating rivers, clay, mountains, prairies, forests, animals, plants and humans out of clay. He teaches the humans how to hunt, prepare food, make fire and create weapons. Old Man then creates more people and creates buffalos, which he teaches the humans to hunt and kill and prepare for food. After all of this, he climbed to the top of a mountain and watched his creation. He was pleased and decided to have some fun, so he used the mountain as a slide and created what is now known as ‘Old Man’s Sliding Ground.’ People today believe that the Old Man still exists and will come back some day with the buffalo that they believe the white man has hidden.…
While the story and the contents of the film stays true to the Old Testaments of the Bible, it seems like the story takes place in a distant future after a global post-nuclear disaster, unlike in the Bible, in which the story did took place in the distant past during a time when modern civilizations first occurred. The story begins with the story of creation, where Adam and Eve made wrong choices and rebelled against the creator, and since then the world has been fallen and sinful. Corrupt with man’s destructive advances. The creation needs to be saved and be safe from the destructive works of mankind. The story is of the Biblical character Noah, the son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, who has been given a task by God to save creation by means of creating an ark, and rescuing pairs of living species, before God destroys the world by means of a world-wide flood. Noah faces the overwhelming task of building the wooden ark and getting the living species on the arc with the help of “watchers”, who are in fact fallen angels, which fell from Heaven. But Noah is walking on a rocky road as he has many enemies, including Tubal-Cain, one of his distant relatives, who later strives to take over his ark and kill Noah and his family. Noah is torn between his duties as being a family patriarch, to protect his family, build the arc and defend all the creation, or cater to his son Ham’s need of finding a wife. With all that taking place, the time is short as God’s wrath is about to be unleashed on the earth. Going through all the hurdles, Noah manages to fulfill the commandments of God, and builds an arc for the salvation of creation.…
uncovering tangible evidence that some of the stories in the Bible actually do have a…
Was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden an apple? (2011). Accessed on 20 December, 2011 from…