'Religion and mythology' differ, but have overlapping aspects. Both terms by definition 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 more diverse term, besides mythological aspects it includes aspects of
ritual,
morality,
theology, personal
faith and
mystic experience. A given
mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion, such as
Greek mythology with
Ancient Greek religion. A myth disconnected from its religious system may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve - away from sacred importance - into a
legend or
folktale.
Religion and mythology
Definitions
''
Religion'' is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or
divine, and the
moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief.
[1] Religious beliefs and practices generally include the following:
★ a
human soul or
spirit
★ a deity or higher being
★
self after the death of one's body
★ a system of
worship
Some religions do not include all these features. For instance, belief in a deity is not essential to
Buddhism.
The term ''
mythology'' usually refers either to a system of myths or to the study of myths.
[2] However, the word "myth" itself has multiple (and some contradictory) definitions:
★ 2007: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Myth: "1 a: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the
world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. b:
Parable,
Allegory. 2 a: a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially: one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of
society. 2b: an unfounded or false notion. 3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence. 4: the whole body of myths.
[3]
In regards to the study of culture and religion, these are some of the definitions scholars have used:
★ 1968: the
classicist Robert Graves defines myths as "whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student's experience that he cannot believe them to be true."
[4]
★ 1973: another classicist G. S. Kirk rejects the notion that all myths are religious or sacred. In the category of "myth", he includes many legendary accounts that are "secular" for all practical purposes.
[5]
★ 1997:
Folklorists define a myth as "a sacred
narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form".
[6]
★ 2004: In religious studies, the word "myth" is usually reserved for stories whose main characters are gods or demigods.
[7]
★ 2004: Robert A. Segal, professor of theories of religion at the University of Lancaster, defines "myth" broadly as any story whose "main figures [are] personalities -- divine, human, or even animal. Excluded would be impersonal forces such as Plato's Good."
[7]
The relationship between religion and myth
The relationship between religion and myth depends on what definition of "myth" one uses. 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 (e.g., 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.
[7] Thus, non-narrative elements of religion, such as ritual and theology, are not myths.
Truth and falsehood
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 the Bible. 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"
[10]
Similarities between different religious mythologies
Given any of the above definitions of "myth", the myths of many religions, both ancient and modern, share common elements. Widespread similarities between religious mythologies include the following:
★ Many religions involve an initial
Paradise preceding ordinary historical time.
[11]
★ Many religions involve the story of a
god who becomes incarnate as a
mortal being (see
incarnation).
★ Many religions involve the story of a god who undergoes death and resurrection (see
life-death-rebirth deity).
[1][2]
★ The mythical geography of many religions involves an ''
axis mundi'', or Cosmic Center.
[12]
★ Many myths feature a global flood.
[13]
The similarities between cultures and time periods can be useful, but it is usually not easy to combine beliefs and histories from different groups. Simplification of cultures and time periods by eliminating detailed data remain vulnerable or flimsy in this area of research.
Contrasts between different religious mythologies
Though there are similarities among most religious mythologies, there are also contrasts. Many mythologies focus on explanations of the universe, natural phenomena, or other themes of human existence, often ascribing
agency to one or more
deities or other
supernatural forces. However, some religions have very few of this kind of story of cosmic explanation. For instance, the
Buddhist parable of the arrow warns against such speculations as "[Is] the world eternal or not eternal? [Is] the soul different from the body? [Does] the enlightened exist after death or not?", viewing them as irrelevant to the goal of escaping suffering.
[14]
Academic views
The
academic meaning of the word mythology refers to the nature of an account as being perceived as sacred or "deep" by its audience (as opposed to texts viewed pragmatically or sceptically by their audience). Characterization of a body of texts as "mythology" does thus not negate or deny any of the beliefs involved, it is unrelated to concepts of objective "truth", while it presupposes spiritual or emotional attachement of a community to the texts in question. Mythology is used in this sense to understand the body of stories, addressing issues of core belief, that explains or symbolizes a religion.
Sociologists and historians of religion are not primarily interested in these stories for their historical value. They analyze religions in terms of the role which their stories and histories play, within the religious system. Histories and imaginative stories alike are treated as a body of myths, when they are regarded by a people as expressing profound truths. Describing the essential and traditional stories accepted as mysteries and historical narratives considered true is consequently just a tool for theological studies and study of the systems of common experience in general. Without necessarily speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history, these mythological elements are studied for their ''mythic'' value.
Religious views
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.
Opposition to categorizing all sacred stories as myths
Some religious believers take offense when what they consider to be historical aspects of their faith are labeled as "myth".
Such believers distinguish between religious fables or myths, on one hand, and those narratives of Scripture which Scripture itself, or their tradition, describe as history or revelation, on the other. For instance, the Catholic priest Father John A. Hardon insists that "Christianity is not mythology. What we believe in is not religious fantasies, no matter how pious."
[3] The evangelical Christian theologian
Carl F. H. Henry insisted that "Judeo-Christian revelation has nothing in common with the category of myth".
[4]
Some apply the term ''
fundamentalism'' to this view (although fundamentalism, more properly defined, has nothing in particular to do with opposition to the word "myth"). They often assume that this "fundamentalism" overlooks the variety of literary genres in Scripture and the
hyperbole,
allegory, and other non-literal meanings in Scripture. This assumption is generally unfounded, although some literalists do think that all stories in scripture should be accepted as literally true.
The roots of the popular meaning of "myth"
Especially within Christianity, objection to the word "myth" rests on a historical basis. By the time of Christ, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth" (Greek ''muthos'') to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, the early Christian theologians used "myth" in this sense.
[15] Thus, the derogatory meaning of the word "myth" is the traditional Christian meaning, and the expression "Christian mythology" may offend Christians for this reason.
In addition, this early Christian use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage.
[16] Thus, when essential
mysteries and teachings are described as ''myth'', in modern English, the word often still implies that it is a ''fable'' and false ''invention''. This description could be taken as a direct attack on
religious belief, quite contrary to the meaning ostensibly intended by the academic use of the term. (For an example of typically academic writing where 'myth' clearly denotes 'falsehood', being used unequivocally in opposition to 'historical', see the article
Historicity of Jesus.)
Non-opposition to categorizing sacred stories as myths
Modern day clergy and practitioners within some religious movements have no problem classifying the religion's sacred stories as "myths". They see the sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Some examples follow.
Christianity
J.R.R. Tolkien's love of myths and devout
Catholic faith came together in his assertion that
mythology is the divine echo of "the Truth".
[17] Tolkien wrote that myths held "fundamental things".
[18] He expressed these beliefs in his poem ''
Mythopoeia'' circa 1931, which describes myth-making as an act of "sub-creation" within God's primary creation.
[19] The poem in part says creation is "myth-woven and elf-patterned":
:"...There is no
firmament,
:only a void, unless a jewelled tent
:myth-woven and
elf-patterned; and no earth,
:unless the mother's womb whence all have birth." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien's opinion was adopted by another
Christian writer,
C.S. Lewis, in their conversations: "Tolkien explained to Lewis that the story of Christ was the true myth at the very heart of history and at the very root of reality."
[5] C. S. Lewis freely called the Christ story a "true myth", and he believed that even pagan myths express spiritual truths. In his opinion, the difference between the Christ story and pagan myths is that the Christ story is historically as well as spiritually true. "The story of Christ," writes Lewis,
"is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myths: i. e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call real things." - C.S. Lewis[6]
Another Christian writer, the Catholic priest Father
Andrew Greeley, freely applies the term "myth" to Christianity. In his book ''Myths of Religion'', he defends this terminology:
"Many Christians have objected to my use of this word [myth] even when I define it specifically. They are terrified by a word which may even have a slight suggestion of fantasy. However, my usage is the one that is common among historians of religion, literary critics, and social scientists. It is a valuable and helpful usage; there is no other word which conveys what these scholarly traditions mean when they refer to myth. The Christian would be well advised to get over his fear of the word and appreciate how important a tool it can be for understanding the content of his faith."[20]
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, folklorist and English professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, have discussed traditional Jewish stories as "mythology"; Schwartz defines myths as "a people’s sacred stories about origins, deities, ancestors, and heroes.".
[7] Schwarz authored the book ''Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism''.
[8]
Miscellaneous
The
Dewey decimal system covers ''religion'' in the 200 range, with books on "''Religious mythology & social theology''" a tiny subset listed under 201.
[21]
See also
★
Magic and religion
★
Myth and ritual
★
Comparative mythology
★
Theosophical Society
★
Esotericism
''Mythology of world religions'':
★
Christian mythology
★
Islamic mythology
★
Jewish mythology
★
Hindu mythology
★
Buddhist mythology
References
1. "Religion", ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' 2007.
2. "Mythology", ''OED'', 2007.
3. "Myth", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2007.
4. Graves 1968, p. v.
5. Kirk 1973, p. 11.
6. Dundes 1997, p. 45.
7. Segal 2004, p. 5.
8. Segal 2004, p. 5.
9. Segal 2004, p. 5.
10. Lewis, ''God In The Dock'', p. 66
11. Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams and Mysteries'', 1967 p. 59.
12. Eliade, ''Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader'', 1976, pp. 372-75.
13. For some examples, see Bierlein 2004, pp. 121-27.
14. "The Parable of the Arrow"
15. Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', 1968, p. 162.
16. Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams and Mysteries'', 1967, p. 23.
17. Wood, Ralph C., Biography of J. R. R. Tolkien.
18. Menion, 2003/2004 citing essays by Tolkien using the words "fundamental things".
19. Tolkien, ''Mythopoeia'', circa 1931.
20. Greeley, ''Myths of Religion''; quoted in Bierlein 1994, pp. 304-5.
21. "''Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system''". Online Computer Library Center, 2005. (PDF)
Sources
★ "Religion". ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. File retrieved 8 June 2007
[9].
★
"Myth", ''Oxford English Dictionary'' ("OED"). File retrieved 2 June 2007. []
★ Bierlein, J.F. ''Parallel Myths''. New York: Ballantine, 1994.
★
"Myth", ''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary''. File retrieved June 18, 2007.
★
Eliade, Mircea:
★
★ ''Myth and Reality''. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
★
★ ''Myths, Dreams and Mysteries''. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
★
★ ''Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader''. Ed. Wendell C. Beane and William G. Doty. Vol 2. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
★ Dundes, Alan. "Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/Levi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect". ''Western Folklore'' 56 (Winter, 1997): pp. 39-50.
★ Kirk, G. S. ''Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures''. Berkeley: Cambridge UP, 1973.
★ Graves, Robert, "Introduction," ''New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology'' (trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames), London: Hamlyn, 1968, pp. v-viii.
★ Menion, Michael.
''Tolkien Elves and Art, in J.R.R. Tolkien's Aesthetics''. 2003/2004 (commentary on ''Mythopoeia'' the poem).
★ Segal, Robert A. ''Myth: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
★ "The Parable of the Arrow" (adapted from the ''Majjhima-nikaya''). Staffordshire Learning Net. File retrieved 2 June 2007.
[10]
Recommended reading
Books
★
Campbell, Joseph, ''
The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', Princeton University Press, 1949. ISBN 978-0691017846
★ Girard, René, Jean-Michel Oughourlian, and Guy Lefort, "''
Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World''". Stanford University Press, 1987
★ Goodwin, J., "''Mystery Religions of the Ancient World''". Thames & Hudson, 1981.
★ Heidel, Alexander, "''The Epic of Gilgamesh and Old Testament parallels''". University of Chicago Press, 1963.
★ Redford, Donald, "''Similarity Between Egyptian and Biblical Texts—Indirect Influence?''" Biblical Archaeology Review, 1987. (13[3]:18-32, May/June)
★ Wright L.M. ''Christianity, Astrology and Myth.'' USA: Oak Hill Free Press, 2002. ISBN 0-9518796-1-8
★ Brantley, Garry K., "''
Pagan Mythology and the Bible''". Apologetics Press, 1993. (Originally published in ''Reason & Revelation'', July 1993, 13[7]:49-53.)
★ Robinson, B. A.,"''
Parallels between Christianity and ancient Pagan religions''". Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 2004.
Websites
★ "''
Mythology''". The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2005.
★
Baskin-Jones, Michele, "''
Death, Dying and the Afterlife in Religion and Mythology''". dying.about.com (ed., Now at
Deathanddyingonline.com.)
★ "''
Religion and mythology : Selected resources''". University of Wisconsin Library, 2004.
★
Occultopedia: The Occult and Unexplained Encyclopedia.
★
Internet Sacred Text Archive
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