thought i ought to get round to saying hi and introducing myself

[Too Few Lions]

Right, I understand what your project is (unless you are using the phrase 'Bible as myth' in some highly unusual way) and that is exactly why I am finding it hard to believe that you could have done serious reaserch and concluded that Deuteronomy is 'pretty much irrelevant' to the 'basic myth' of the Bible.  Usually when people say "the Bible as myth' they mean they will examine the Bible as they would anyother legendary account of man and his place in the universe.  Used in this sense it is very difficult to see how someone could seriously claim that Deuteronomy is pretty much irrelevant to the basic structure of the Biblical story.  Deuteronomy is central to the basic myth of the Bible.  Unless you consider monotheism and Moses pretty irrelevant to the Biblical legend. 

It's been a few years since I read it and was bored by it, but Deuteronomy seems to me to be mainly about promoting Yahweh as the single god of the Jews and setting out various laws that the Jews should obey. I think Moses is a mythological figure, but beyond that I don't see a lot of mythology in Deuteronomy.

As as atheist, it's not masively important to me whether the Jews were monotheistic, henotheistic or polytheistic. I don't see any great divide between the three (they're all theists!) Only a monotheist would see this as being an incredibly important central part of biblical myth. Whether the Jews (or Christians) were monotheistic or polytheistic they were still using the same basic mythological templates, rituals and model of the cosmos as all the other folk around them.

I'm far more interested in what I see as the basic myths (such as the Garden of Eden, the Flood, the Exodus, the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the final Conflagration  etc etc), their parallels in other ancient religions / myths and how they relate to ancient cosmology / beliefs.

You do seem to be getting a little hung-up on a flippant throw away comment about Deuteronomy being dull, and you may as well skip read it. Both of which still ring true for me.

[The Magic Pudding]

Well, there's egg and bacon,
egg sausage and bacon
Egg and spam
Egg, bacon and spam
Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam
Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)

Or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce
served in a provencale manner with shallots and aubergines
garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam.