RELS 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Extended Metaphor, Traditional Story
15 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture #14: what is a religious myth, how do we define it academically. Traditional story especially one concurring the early history of people. Involving supernatural beings or events: are they true or false. Factually and literally false: literal versus metaphorical readings of religious myths. Symbolism: something used to represent something else. Metaphor: a type of symbolic language, extended metaphor, parable or myth, common uses of symbols in myths. Unseen ultimate reality: usually as mother or father. Frequent association with height: place that is spiritually superior. Vertical symbols: used to connect with the heavens and gods, mountains, trees, pillars, fire, etc. Beneath earth: an underworld, dangerous place where evil is, types of myth. Origin myths: cosmogonic and cosmological: stories about evolution of universe and humankind, most common type of myth, may establish, gender roles, relationships between humans and non humans. Destiny myths: restoration of unity with gods: 2 kinds, death and after, eschatology: end of the world.
