Walton’s Guiding Principles for Comparative Study

I recently re-visited this helpful list of guiding principles for conducting comparative studies using the Old Testament and surrounding ancient Near Eastern sources while preparing for a class on the historical-cultural backgrounds of the Bible. In his book (which I highly recommend)Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), he spells out the following 10 principles to bear in mind when reading the Old Testament in its ANE context (p. 26-27). I don’t list these with the expectation that everyone out there is doing comparative research using primary material from ANE. However, if you are an academically engaged student of the Old Testament, you are reading books that contain arguments built on comparative studies from the ANE. So, for those reading the comparative work of others, use Walton’s principles to help you evaluate these arguments. Any comparative research that blatantly ignores or goes against these principles, should not be afforded much influence in our interpretation of the biblical text.

1. Both similarities and differences must be considered.
2. Similarities may suggest a common cultural heritage or cognitive environment rather than borrowing.
3. It is not uncommon to find similarities at the surface but differences at the conceptual level or vice versa.
4. All elements must be understood in their own context as accurately as possible before cross-cultural comparisons are made.
5. Proximity in time, geography, and spheres of cultural contact all increase the possibility of interaction leading to influence.
6. A case for literary borrowing requires identification of likely channels of transmission.
7. The significance of differences between two pieces of literature is minimized if the works are not the same genre.
8. Similar functions may be performed by different genres in different cultures.
9. When literary or cultural elements are borrowed they may in turn be transformed into something quite different by those who borrowed them.
10. A single culture will rarely be monolithic, either in a contemporary cross-section or in consideration of a passage of time.

- Rusty Osborne