In historical analysis,

biblical criticism Modern Biblical criticism (as opposed to pre-Modern criticism) is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical c ...

and comparative mythology/

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, parallelomania has been used to refer to a phenomenon (

mania Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a Psychiatry, psychiatric Abnormality (behavior), behavioral syndrome defined as a state of Abnormality (behavior), abnormally elevated arousal, affect (psychology), affect, and energy level. During a mani ...

) where authors perceive apparent similarities and construct parallels and analogies without historical basis. The concept was introduced to scholarly circles in 1961 by Rabbi Samuel Sandmel (1911–1979) of the

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

in a paper of the same title, where he stated that he had first encountered the term in a French book of 1830, but did not recall the author or the title. Sandmel stated that the simple observations of similarity between historical events are often less than valid, but at times lead to a phenomenon where an author first notices a supposed similarity, overdoses on analogy, and then "proceeds to describe source and derivation as if implying a literary connection flowing in an inevitable or predetermined direction". Martin McNamara, MSC ( Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy) stated that Sandmel's initial paper has proven to be "highly influential". Christian and Jewish scholars have used the concept in a number of cases and areas. Thomas Schreiner (

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...

) applies it to over-generalization of the simple use of the verb "see" used as a

participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...

to refer to a casual act of observation, to extending its meaning to have deeper spiritual contexts in order to construct parallels. Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner has stated that some portrayals of Aphrahat as someone who cherry picked from Rabbinical literature are based on weak parallels which fall within Sandmel's characterization of parallelomania. Joseph Fitzmyer, a priest of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

(SJ), states the analyses of the Pauline epistles have at times suffered from parallelomania through the construction of unwarranted analogies with prior traditions.''According to Paul: Studies in the Theology of the Apostle'' by Joseph Fitzmyer (1 January 2003) page 32 Gerald O'Collins, SJ states that most scholars are now aware of the pitfalls of parallelomania which exaggerate the importance of trifling resemblances. Gerald O'Collins, "The Hidden Story of Jesus" ''New Blackfriars'' Volume 89, Issue 1024, pages 710–714, November 2008

References

{{Reflist, 30em Biblical criticism Comparative mythology Comparative religion Judaism and paganism Christianity and paganism

See also

References