I found the book interesting, but it seemed too lengthy. One can get a general understanding of what Thompson is trying to convey. What might be necessary is for one to actually read the bible during or before reading this book to make it an easier read. A few items seemed a bit out of sequence. For example in the last chapter, perhaps the first three sections should have been last. Seems like a minor point, but if one is looking for logical flow, one really has to pay strict attention to what he wrote, almost sentence by sentence. It was not an easy read, by any means, but I found his general observations interesting. I would recommend it to someone who likes archaeology or the Bible as literature.
One of the great controversies surrounding the Bible in the last 20 years centers on whether it is a historical document and therefore literally "true." Thomas L. Thompson has spent his academic career steeped in this controversy, researching the archaeological histories of Israel and Palestine, and has concluded that the Bible is not a historical document. Thompson contends however, that understanding the Bible as fictive does not have to undermine its truth and integrity. Currently a professor of the Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen, Thompson's The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel aims to separate the Bible from history in order to understand it on its own terms, in the context its authors intended. While parts of The Mythic Past value research and analysis over readability, it is arranged to help aspiring scholars negotiate the vast and complex history of biblical understanding. Thompson believes that "How the Bible is related to history has been badly misunderstood. As we have been reading the Bible within a context that is certainly wrong, and as we have misunderstood the Bible because of this, we need to seek a context more appropriate. As a result, we will begin to read the Bible in a new way."
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