ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts presents in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses a critical analysis of the theories of the emergence of the Bible. The structural analysis developed by Claude Levi-Strauss invites one to compare the variants of a myth so as to define the rules that led to their transformation. A structuralism will therefore examine all the variants of a myth found in a defined geographic area. The biblical story, recalling the foundation of a twelve-tribe State that is endowed with divine laws which enable it to live ideally, seems to be inspired by Plato's Laws, probably the least known to moderns of the philosophers dialogues. The thesis of a Bible born of the Hellenistic era, one that was inspired freely but mainly by Greek literature, gives rise to doubtful reactions because it seems innovative and goes against the dominant theories on the origins of the Bible.
