In the most recent of Dundes's three important contributions to the study of religion. It is our good fortune that this most eminent of American anthropologists and folklorists well known for his work on folklore theory and on subjects as diverse as German national charachter and American joke cycles, has now brought his scholarship to bear on religion. Dundes's work is already widely influential in the United States and deserves to be better known among British scholars of religion.

Journal of Contemporary Religion

It has long been recognized by professional biblicists that the Bible is full of duplications and that the Bible originally circulated orally. Folklorist Alan Dundes' original contribution, carried out with the spriteliness and verve for which he is celebrated, is to show how the duplications are not contingent but inherent in the nature of folklore, and thereby to show how the folkloristic nature of the Bible continues in even its written form. A wonderful book.

Robert Segal, Lancaster University

Holy Writ as Oral Lit offers insight into the Bible without diminishing it.

Columbus Dispatch

'Holy writ as Oral Lit,' a brief but illuminating excursus into the Bible.

Johnathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

The fact of variation in the Bible is an important point, which Dundes documents abundantly. . . Dundes's emphasis on folklore analysis for understanding the biblical writings is salutary.

Ronald S. Hendel, University of California, Berkeley, Religious Studies Review

The idea that the Bible contains elements of folklore is not new. What makes Alan Dundes's latest book so remarkable, however, is his claim that the Bible is more folklore than anything else. Even more remarkable is the fact that after reading this book,
such a claim seems absolutely convincing. This is an outstanding book that belongs on the shelf of anyone concerned either with folklore or the Bible.

Michael P. Carroll, University of Western Ontario