World Mythology - Monday, March 24th - 2nd Period
"Good morning, class. I understand that this weekend was a holiday for many of you," Ghanima said, smiling. "Hopefully you weren't too busy worshiping the false gods of candy and chocolate bunnies to get outside and enjoy some of the fresh air. In light of the holiday, today we discuss the complex and often contentious relationship between religion and mythology from an academic stance."
"Religion and mythology differ, but have overlapping aspects," she said. "Both terms refer to systems of concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making statements concerning the supernatural or sacred. Generally, mythology is considered one component or aspect of religion. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion, such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion. Disconnected from its religious system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve-away from sacred importance-into a legend or folktale."
"Now, the relationship between religion and myth depends on what definition of "myth" one uses." Ghanima hopped off her desk to begin her traditional pacing of the room, waving her hands as she spoke. "By Robert Graves's definition, a religion's traditional stories are "myths" if and only if one does not belong to the religion in question. By Segal's definition, all religious stories are myths -- but simply because nearly all stories are myths. By the folklorists' definition, all myths are religious,or 'sacred', stories, but not all religious stories are myths: religious stories that involve the creation of the world , like the stories in Genesis, are myths; however, religious stories that don't explain how things came to be in their present form, e.g. hagiographies of famous saints, are not myths."
"It should be noted that most definitions of "myth" limit myths to stories. Thus, non-narrative elements of religion, such as ritual and theology, are not myths."
"In a scholarly setting, the word "myth" may mean "sacred story", "traditional story", or "story involving gods", but it does not mean "false story". Therefore, many scholars refer to a religion's stories as "myths" without intending to offend members of that religion. For instance, a scholar may call the narratives in the Bible "mythology" without meaning to imply that the Bible is false or unhistorical. Nevertheless, this scholarly use of the word "myth" may cause misunderstanding and offense to people who cherish those myths. This is because the word "myth" is popularly used to mean "falsehood", so people who hold this view may think that a scholar who calls scripture "mythology" is calling it false.The Christian apologist C. S. Lewis made a clear distinction between myth and falsehood when he referred to the life of Christ as a myth "which is also a fact"." Ghanima stopped for a moment, smiling at them. "Have I made your head hurt, yet?"
"Where academia and religion often come into conflict is in the heart, rather than in the head. Most religions contain a body of traditional sacred stories that are believed to express profound truth. Some religious organizations and practitioners believe that some or all of their traditional stories are not only sacred and "true", but also historically accurate and divinely revealed, and that calling such stories "myths" disrespects their special status. Other religious organizations and practitioners have no problem with categorizing their sacred stories as myths. Objection to the word "myth" primarily grows out of a historical basis. By the time of Christ, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth", which comes from the Greek muthos, to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, the early Christian theologians used "myth" in this sense."
"As your fun fact for today, The Dewey decimal system covers religion in the 200 range, with books on "Religious mythology & social theology" a tiny subset listed under 201. While that may seem insignificant at first glance, your assignment for this week is to go to the library and browse the 200s. Look and see what books are shelved there, and think about what that says about the current modern perception of religion and mythology on a subconscious level."
[Please wait for the OCD to go up! Enjoy!]
"Religion and mythology differ, but have overlapping aspects," she said. "Both terms refer to systems of concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making statements concerning the supernatural or sacred. Generally, mythology is considered one component or aspect of religion. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion, such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion. Disconnected from its religious system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve-away from sacred importance-into a legend or folktale."
"Now, the relationship between religion and myth depends on what definition of "myth" one uses." Ghanima hopped off her desk to begin her traditional pacing of the room, waving her hands as she spoke. "By Robert Graves's definition, a religion's traditional stories are "myths" if and only if one does not belong to the religion in question. By Segal's definition, all religious stories are myths -- but simply because nearly all stories are myths. By the folklorists' definition, all myths are religious,or 'sacred', stories, but not all religious stories are myths: religious stories that involve the creation of the world , like the stories in Genesis, are myths; however, religious stories that don't explain how things came to be in their present form, e.g. hagiographies of famous saints, are not myths."
"It should be noted that most definitions of "myth" limit myths to stories. Thus, non-narrative elements of religion, such as ritual and theology, are not myths."
"In a scholarly setting, the word "myth" may mean "sacred story", "traditional story", or "story involving gods", but it does not mean "false story". Therefore, many scholars refer to a religion's stories as "myths" without intending to offend members of that religion. For instance, a scholar may call the narratives in the Bible "mythology" without meaning to imply that the Bible is false or unhistorical. Nevertheless, this scholarly use of the word "myth" may cause misunderstanding and offense to people who cherish those myths. This is because the word "myth" is popularly used to mean "falsehood", so people who hold this view may think that a scholar who calls scripture "mythology" is calling it false.The Christian apologist C. S. Lewis made a clear distinction between myth and falsehood when he referred to the life of Christ as a myth "which is also a fact"." Ghanima stopped for a moment, smiling at them. "Have I made your head hurt, yet?"
"Where academia and religion often come into conflict is in the heart, rather than in the head. Most religions contain a body of traditional sacred stories that are believed to express profound truth. Some religious organizations and practitioners believe that some or all of their traditional stories are not only sacred and "true", but also historically accurate and divinely revealed, and that calling such stories "myths" disrespects their special status. Other religious organizations and practitioners have no problem with categorizing their sacred stories as myths. Objection to the word "myth" primarily grows out of a historical basis. By the time of Christ, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth", which comes from the Greek muthos, to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, the early Christian theologians used "myth" in this sense."
"As your fun fact for today, The Dewey decimal system covers religion in the 200 range, with books on "Religious mythology & social theology" a tiny subset listed under 201. While that may seem insignificant at first glance, your assignment for this week is to go to the library and browse the 200s. Look and see what books are shelved there, and think about what that says about the current modern perception of religion and mythology on a subconscious level."
[Please wait for the OCD to go up! Enjoy!]