Myths and realities

The present collection of essays, selected by a priest-teacher and laywoman-student at Loyola University, brings together wide-ranging, mind-opening, and absorbing studies on major aspects of biblical scholarship. The volume comprises four major sections. In the first, "Free Scholarship in the Church," McKenzie emerges as an articulate spokesman for freedom of intellectual inquiry within the household of the faith. Part 2, "Inspiration and Revelation," are lucid, intellectually exhilarating investigations into the meaning of God's word and the historical processes from which the Bible emerged. Part 3, "Myth and the Old Testament," includes probing essays that bring the reader face to face with an important and difficult subject: the attitude of the biblical man to nature and to the mythologies of his pagan neighbors. The final section, "Messianism," is devoted to a study of the hopes of Israel of old and their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, along with the use of messianic passages for apologetic purposes.