I try to look at the texts and say: Is there a way that I can find history in the texts and separate it from what may be the mythological elements, and I don't find any rules for that.

We want to live in ambiguity. This is the human condition.

I grew up in a household in which the Bible played very little role.

[The story of Adam and Eve] it's poetry. One must interpret it as poetry. The first 11 chapters of Genesis [the Primeval History] are absolutely remarkable.

I guess what this is reflecting is my own search for answers that I can't find. Frank [Moore Cross] and I have examined a lot of archaeological materials in the hope of finding out.

There was certainly an old law code which stands behind the earliest form of Deuteronomy. Presumably that is what was lost.

I think we may very well, in many areas, get likelihood, but not certitude. We don't want certitude anyway, do we?