Book: Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion
Chapter: 7. Myth, Space, and the History of Religions: Reflections on the Comparative Study Of Ancient Wilderness Mythologies from Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, and Early Christianity
Blurb:
This essay discusses the role of comparison in the historical study of religions by means of three case studies of wilderness mythology from ancient religions – Mesopotamia, The Hebrew Bible, and early Christianity. Then, the concept of wilderness and a spatial-narrative theoretical strategy of analysis are presented, and it is argued that concept-based comparison is constitutive for the academic study of religions.