Is the story contained in the Bible a literal account of the creation of the universe and a factual history of the Jewish nation, including the birth of a baby in Bethlehem who was destined to die for the sins of the world, or is the true interpretation of the biblical texts symbolic and allegorical? In recent years several biblical scholars have come to believe in a metaphorical understanding of the Scriptures. What has been lacking, however, is an exegesis showing how this is so. In her doctoral dissertation, Tina Rae Collins has finally brought forth that interpretation in a brief, easily...

From fairy godmother to leg-breaking godfather, deities have risen and fallen in the hearts of men and women; and the Judaeo-Christian religion has developed into a powerful and dominant force in the world. It is the contention of the author of this book, however, that the Bible, while being revered and upheld as the one true word of the gods, is not in fact such, and that its theology and doctrines were not, as some seem to believe, dropped from the edge of a cloud upon which a divine being was riding. In this work Collins considers the origin and history of the basic tenets of...