Abstract
The call to Abram announces the passage from the poetic myth of origins to myth realized in history. Ordinarily, the issue of the Bible’s historicity is approached on a literal level: Was there really a man named Abram? Or are the patriarchs fictional characters? Beyond a few lists of rulers’ names we have little positive evidence corroborating the court histories of the ancient world. The possibility of finding independent records of an obscure tribal chieftain like Abram is virtually nil. In any event, the oral traditions underlying Genesis do not reflect logos-bound factuality. They are archetypal narratives, coded to carry universal meaning, while reflecting the viewpoint of the Hebrews. When dealing with archetypal narratives, “the question is not Did that event happen in the past? but Is that meaning always happening, is it eternally true?” (Bruteau 1996, 61).
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