Re: A good laugh

In article <hLGdnbEgE-UunsXVnZ2dneKdnZynnZ2d@xxxxxx>,
"Andrew McGee" <amhome@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I would agree that the inability to distinguish myth from reality is a major
cause of religious funamentalism.

BUT: Is that really a modern development? Surely it is inherent in all the
religions of the 'Book'. I have never bene under the impression that
medieval xtians made this distinction. They had, for the most part, a
literal view of the bible, and, sure enough, that led them to a narrow
andnasty view of the world.

Armstrong is a former Catholic nun, and it seems to me that Catholics
have always had the tendency to interpret the 'difficult' parts of
Scripture in a non-literal manner. In particular, it did not take long
for John Henry Newman to point out that there was no need for Catholics
to see evolution as a stumbling block, as it was perfectly possible to
regard the Biblical creation stories as myth.

I believe Armstrong's development of the subject of mythos and logos is
far from adequate, given its pivotal role in her book, but she does make
one excellent point about the premodern view of history:

'In the premodern world, people had a different view of history. They
were less interested than we are in what actually happened, but more
concerned with the meaning of an event. Historical incidents were not
seen as unique occurrences, set in a far-off time, but were thought to
be external manifestations of constant, timeless realities. Hence
history would tend to repeat itself, because there was nothing new under
the sun. Historical narratives tried to bring out this eternal
dimension. Thus, we do not know what really occurred when the ancient
Israelites escaped from Egypt and passed through the Sea of Reeds. The
story has been deliberately written as a myth, and linked with other
stories about rites of passage, immersion in the deep, and gods
splitting a sea in two to create a new reality. Jews experience this
myth every year in the rituals of the Passover Seder, which brings this
strange story into their own lives and helps them to make it their own.
One could say that unless an historical event is mythologized in this
way, and liberated from the past in an inspiring cult, it cannot be
religious. To ask whether the Exodus from Egypt took place exactly as
recounted in the Bible or to demand historical and scientific evidence
to prove that it is factually true is to mistake the nature and purpose
of this story. it is to confuse mythos with logos.'
<http://surge.ods.org/idle_religion/mythoslogos.htm>

Alwyn
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The root of all evil? - Dawkins Documentary
    ... active and who intervenes in history is one which it should be ... well within the power of science to address. ... and presumably more "tribal" religions) claim to be able to put ... But the traditions making these claims _also_ have, quite generally, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Dilbert on Ahmadinejad
    ... some of the most advanced civilizations in the history of man were Islamic as well as relatively very tolerant towards the other two bible based religions. ... Why do you keep bringing up Marxism? ...
    (rec.martial-arts)
  • Re: Question for biblical creationists
    ... many people considered the Greek flood myth of Deucaleon ... Once Hebrew mythology is admitted as possible history, ... either the Greek or Hebrew ancient texts. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Non-establishment v. Wall
    ... | government-established religions? ... every non-reader (no awareness of human history) non-thinker (no awareness ... but most of it was whining about giving the Church back a tiny ... problems with a government of mostly apathetic, greedy, aloof, and corrupt ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)
  • Re: Jesus Christ -- Clashing Biblical Images
    ... to the history of Israel hardly have anything to do with Hammurabi's ... on a common sense or scientific facts ... the _ancient_ religions started where these facts simply had not been ... constant contact with Babylon as well as Egypt. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
Loading