This article considers the question of what may qualify as “epic” in the Hebrew Bible. Against Cross, we argue that certain prose narratives can be termed epic in themselves, although Judges 5 and Exodus 15 show that Israel could produce epic poetry. Hector and Nora Chadwick claimed that epic is a cultural rather than literary phenomenon and does not demand poetic form. For Parry and Lord, epic poetry has its origin in oral singing of tales, with no Urtext ever existing since every performance was a new creation. Israel’s epic must be considered secondary, in C. S. Lewis’s terminology, because it does not look back to a heroic past, but assumes a progression in history.
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CrossFrank Moore. 1983. “Epic Traditions of Early Israel: Epic Narrative and the Reconstruction of Early Israelite Institutions.” Pages 13–39 in The Poet and the Historian: Essays in Literary and Historical Criticism. Edited by FriedmanR. E.Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
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