# John Currid American Reformed Old Testament scholar and Egyptologist; the Carl W. McMurray Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte campus). Currid is the most articulate evangelical-academic voice for the **polemical-theology** reading of the Old Testament's relationship to its Ancient Near Eastern environment, the thesis that the biblical authors *knew* the surrounding ANE myths and *wrote against them*, not from them. His 2013 book *Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament* (Crossway) is the standard short statement of the position and the single most-deployed counter-text against the "Genesis just borrowed from the ANE" argument circulating in atheist-apologetic and skeptical-academic discourse. Currid combines a primary-source Egyptological training (PhD, University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1985) with a confessionally-Reformed theological commitment. The combination gives him standing in both the academic ANE / Hebrew-Bible guild and the conservative-evangelical confessional sphere, a relatively rare bridging-credential set, comparable to [Kenneth Kitchen](/codex/kenneth-kitchen/) (British), James Hoffmeier (Trinity Evangelical), and K. Lawson Younger (Trinity Evangelical). Currid is more confessionally-Reformed than [John Walton](/codex/john-walton/) (more cautious on theistic evolution, traditional on Adam, traditional on inerrancy) and supplies the conservative-Presbyterian alternative to Walton's *Lost World* series. ## Life - B. 1951. Studied at the University of Vermont (BA) and Reformed Theological Seminary (MDiv). - PhD in Near Eastern Studies / Egyptology from the University of Chicago Oriental Institute (1985), under James Hoffmeier and the Chicago Egyptological school. - Ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA); has pastored and supplied for PCA congregations alongside his teaching. - Joined Reformed Theological Seminary in 1990; Carl W. McMurray Professor of Old Testament at RTS Charlotte; has lectured widely at Westminster Theological Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, and PCA-affiliated venues. - Member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Schools of Oriental Research, and the Evangelical Theological Society. ## Major works - *Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament* (Baker Academic, 1997), first major statement; ANE-comparative engagement focused on Egyptian primary sources; foundational for Currid's polemical-theology trajectory. - *Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament* (Crossway, 2013), the load-bearing short statement of the polemical-theology thesis; surveys ANE creation, flood, ancestor, and law parallels and argues each functions polemically rather than derivatively. - *[Genesis 1:1-11](/codex/genesis-1-1-11/):26* (Evangelical Press Study Commentary, 2003), full commentary on the primeval history. - *[Genesis 11:27-50](/codex/genesis-11-27-50/):26* (Evangelical Press, 2003), commentary on the patriarchal narratives. - *Exodus, Volume 1: Chapters 1-18* (Evangelical Press, 2000); *Exodus, Volume 2: Chapters 19-40* (Evangelical Press, 2001). - *Leviticus* (Evangelical Press, 2004). - *Numbers* (Evangelical Press, 2009). - *Deuteronomy* (Evangelical Press, 2006). - Numerous shorter monographs and contributions, including pieces in the *Reformed Faith and Practice* journal, the *Westminster Theological Journal*, and the *Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research*. ## Key positions - **Polemical theology as the primary biblical mode of ANE engagement.** The Old Testament authors are *not* derivative borrowers from ANE myth (the Wellhausen / Smith / popular-skeptic reading) and *not* isolated-from-ANE (the older fundamentalist reading). They are **deliberate polemicists** who use recognizable ANE vocabulary, motifs, and narrative structures to *invert* their theological content. Same furniture, opposite house. Currid lays this out across five domains in *Against the Gods*: creation accounts, flood narratives, ancestor / hero tales, prophetic theophany imagery, and legal codes. In each case the biblical text engages an identifiable ANE counterpart and theologically subverts it. - **Egyptian polemic in the Pentateuch.** Currid's Egyptological training shows in his Exodus and Genesis commentaries: the plagues of Exodus are read as point-by-point polemic against the Egyptian pantheon (Nile / Hapi; sun / Ra; cattle / Apis; firstborn / Pharaoh-as-divine-son); Joseph's elevation echoes and inverts the Egyptian "Tale of Sinuhe" / "Tale of the Two Brothers" patterns; the bronze serpent ([Num 21](/codex/numbers-21/)) engages and subverts the *uraeus* serpent-deity imagery of Egyptian royal iconography. - **[Genesis 1](/codex/genesis-1/)-3 polemic against ANE creation accounts.** [Genesis 1](/codex/genesis-1/) engages *Enuma Elish* but inverts its theology, no theogony, no divine conflict, no creation-from-divine-corpse; one sovereign creator, speech-act creation, humans as image-bearers of the creator (not as menial labor to free gods from work). [Genesis 2](/codex/genesis-2/)-3 engages ANE garden / paradise / fall traditions and supplies the theological inversion: humanity falls through autonomy from a good creator, not through deity-rivalry or fated-tragedy. - **Flood polemic against Atrahasis / Gilgamesh XI.** [Genesis 6](/codex/genesis-6/)-9 engages the ANE flood tradition but supplies the moral-causation explanation absent from the ANE counterparts. Pagan gods flood for trivial reasons (noise, overpopulation, divine annoyance); YHWH floods for moral corruption and violence ([Gen 6:5](/codex/genesis-6-5/), [11](/codex/genesis-6-11/)). The hero (Noah) is righteous-and-obedient rather than divinely-favored-by-trickery (Atrahasis hidden by Enki). - **Historical Adam, traditional position.** Currid defends a traditional historical Adam, sole biological progenitor, not [John Walton](/codex/john-walton/)'s archetype-and-representative reading. This is the standard friendly-critic distinction within the evangelical-academic ANE-comparative school: Currid and Walton agree on polemical-engagement, disagree on Adam-anthropology. - **Confessional inerrancy.** Currid affirms the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and writes within Reformed confessional bounds (Westminster Standards). His ANE-comparative work is conducted as a *constructive complement* to confessional theology, not as a corrosive solvent, the comparative material illuminates the biblical text without relativizing its theological claims. - **OT historicity, broadly maximalist.** Currid sides with the maximalist OT camp ([Kenneth Kitchen](/codex/kenneth-kitchen/), Hoffmeier, Younger) against the minimalist Copenhagen school (Davies, Thompson, Lemche) and against the moderate-skeptic American school (Finkelstein, Silberman, Dever). His Exodus commentary defends a historical Exodus and Conquest; his Genesis commentary defends historical patriarchs. ## Christian-apologetic relevance Currid is **load-bearing in the codex at three major engagements**: - [Genesis ANE Myth Borrowing Objection](/codex/genesis-ane-myth-borrowing-objection/) + [Genesis ANE Myth Borrowing Objection Defeater](/codex/genesis-ane-myth-borrowing-objection-defeater/), Currid's polemical-theology framing is the leading constructive evangelical-academic response to the "Genesis just borrowed from ANE myth" argument. The Currid framework can be summarized as: *the parallels are real, but they function as polemic, not as derivation.* This anchors the defeater's P1 (the parallels exist) while supplying the inversion that defuses the objection's force. - [Canaanite Conquest and Herem](/codex/canaanite-conquest-and-herem/) + [Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater](/codex/canaanite-conquest-objection-defeater/), Currid's Egyptological and ANE-rhetorical work informs the broader maximalist defense of OT conquest historicity, though [John Walton](/codex/john-walton/)'s *Lost World of the Israelite Conquest* (2017) is the more-developed academic statement on this specific topic. - [OT Polytheism Objection](/codex/ot-polytheism-objection/), Currid (with [Michael Heiser](/codex/michael-heiser/)) supplies the polemical-engagement counter to [Mark Smith](/codex/mark-smith/)'s developmental thesis. The biblical use of West Semitic divine vocabulary (El, El Shaddai, El Elyon, *elohim*-language, divine-council imagery) is read as polemical appropriation of ANE religious vocabulary in service of a monotheistic-with-supernatural-host theology, not as fossil-evidence of an earlier Israelite polytheism. Currid sits in the evangelical-academic ANE-comparative cluster with [John Walton](/codex/john-walton/), [Michael Heiser](/codex/michael-heiser/), [Kenneth Kitchen](/codex/kenneth-kitchen/), James Hoffmeier, K. Lawson Younger, and Tremper Longman III. He is the more confessionally-Reformed and anthropologically-traditional voice in that cluster, accepts the ANE-comparative method, applies it polemically, holds traditional positions on Adam and inerrancy. Apologetically he is the **first-line resource** when the objection takes the form "the OT borrowed its myths from the ANE", *Against the Gods* (2013) is the standard 200-page survey response. ## See also - [John Walton](/codex/john-walton/), fellow ANE-comparative evangelical scholar; friendly critic on Adam and inerrancy; broader on Genesis-genre questions - [Michael Heiser](/codex/michael-heiser/), divine-council framework; complementary polemical reading of ANE religious vocabulary - [Kenneth Kitchen](/codex/kenneth-kitchen/), Egyptologist; the broader maximalist-OT-historicity school Currid sits in - [Mark Smith](/codex/mark-smith/), primary academic foil; Currid's polemical-theology framework is the alternative to Smith's developmental thesis - [Hugh Ross](/codex/hugh-ross/), old-earth concordist; different methodological school but similar conservative-Christian-academic posture - [Genesis ANE Myth Borrowing Objection](/codex/genesis-ane-myth-borrowing-objection/) + [Genesis ANE Myth Borrowing Objection Defeater](/codex/genesis-ane-myth-borrowing-objection-defeater/), the codex engagement Currid most directly anchors - [OT Polytheism Objection](/codex/ot-polytheism-objection/), the codex engagement where Currid + Heiser supply the polemical-engagement counter - [Canaanite Conquest and Herem](/codex/canaanite-conquest-and-herem/) + [Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater](/codex/canaanite-conquest-objection-defeater/), adjacent engagement - [Genesis Hermeneutics](/codex/genesis-hermeneutics/), the five-orthodox-readings hub - [Hexaemeron Tradition](/codex/hexaemeron-tradition/), the genre-tradition the polemical reading sits within - [Old Testament Difficult Texts](/codex/old-testament-difficult-texts/), the broader hub