Ebook: The Problem of Etiological Narrative in the Old Testament

A classic definition of etiological narrative in Greek mythology as formulated by M. P. Nilsson runs:
"... a narrative which seeks to explain why something has come to be, or why it has become such and such."
This general formulation is standard and widespread, whether the literary effects are viewed with a primary interest in anthropology, comparative religion and mythology, or comparative literature. The definition was early applied to Israelitic literature by Old Testament scholars, and has continued to be commonly accepted. Such a formulation, however, encourages the kind of negative evaluation of the historical worth of etiological tradition which A. Alt, for example, gave. On the other hand, it speaks of a story's function without describing those characteristics which actually reveal its overall etiological purpose. One simply reconstructs a question — the hypothetical Kinderfrage — which a given myth, legend, or saga seeks to
answer.