Or, to put it in other terms, the boundary between the ancient world and the modern is to be traced, not in the Aegean or the
middle Mediterranean, but in the
pages of the Old Testament, where we find revealed attainments in the realms
of thought, facility in literary expression, profound religious insights, and
standards of individual and social ethics, all
of which are intimately
of the modern world because, indeed, they have been
of the vital motivating forces which made our world
of the human spirit.
A Dictionary
of Biblical Tradition in English Literature edited by David Lyle Jeffrey Eerdmans, 960
pages, $ 80 A mammoth new reference work, certain to be a
standard and invaluable resource, this «dictionary» contains hundreds
of articles on biblical figures, motifs, concepts, quotations, and allusions» both in their scriptural context and as they have been used and understood by English - speaking writers and scholars since the
Middle Ages.