Prologue: The Mystique of Sacred Scripture Summary and Analysis

In a prologue to his examination of the sources of the Christian New Testament, Burton Mack outlines his intent to strip away some of the mystique of the Bible and look at it as a collection of diverse documents created for different purposes and at different times. This approach challenges the widely-held belief that the Bible came into being by a deliberate process and serves as a monolithic source of truth and teaching.

Christians and theologians seem to understand that the Bible contains a diverse number of sources, Mack argues, yet it is treated as if it speaks with one voice. But while the Bible is supposed to deliver a single message, that message is somehow hidden in the text and must be discovered through study and reflection. These contradictions hinder...