content of his faith. At a "Consultation on the Relationship Between the Wesleyan Tradition and the Natural Sciences" in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 19, 1991, Dennis Bratcher presented a discussion of the adaptation of Near Eastern mythical thought by the Israelites. Bratcher argued that the Old Testament absorbed Near Eastern pagan mythology (although he drew a sharp distinction between the literally-interpreted myths of the Near Eastern pagans and the "mythopoetic" use of imagery from pagan myths by the Hebrews). During this presentation, he gave the following disclaimer: the term "myth" as used here does not mean "false" or "fiction". Even in my old and yellowed Webster's, "fiction" is the third meaning of the word. In its primary and more technical meaning "myth" refers to a story or group of stories that serve to explain how a particular society views their world. Judaism Some Jewish scholars, including Dov Noy, a professor of folklore at Hebrew University and founder of the Israel Folktale Archives, and Howard Schwartz, Jewish anthologist and English professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, have discussed traditional Jewish stories as "mythology". Schwartz authored the book Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism. It consists of myths and belief statements excerpted from—and, in some cases, synthesized from a number of excerpts from—both Biblical and non-Biblical Jewish texts. According to Schwartz, the Jewish people continue to elaborate on, and compose additions to, their traditional mythology. In the book's introduction, Schwartz states that the word "myth", as used in the book, "is not offered to mean something that is not true, as in the current popular usage". Neopaganism Neopagans frequently refer to their sacred stories as "myths". Asatru, a modern-day revival of Germanic Paganism, holds "that the Eddas, Myths and Norse Sagas are the divinely inspired wisdom of [its] religion". Wicca, another Neopagan movement, also applies the term "mythology" to its stories. Miscellaneous The Dewey Decimal system covers religion in the 200 range, with books on "Religious mythology & social theology", a subset listed under 201. See also General Comparative mythology Creation myth Esotericism Magic and religion Myth and ritual Mythical theology Theosophical Society Mythology of world religions Buddhist mythology Christian mythology Hindu mythology Islamic mythology Jewish mythology References Citations Sources "About Us". Ásatrú Utah. 30 December 2007 <http://asatruutah.org/about_us/>. "Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. File retrieved 8 June 2007 . "Myth", Oxford English Dictionary ("OED"). File