The religious traditions we're looking at this week all have a special place for their narrative stories. Using your understanding of the mythic dimension, describe some of the ways myth operates in one of the three Abrahamic religions. What does myth do for the religion? What connections can you make to the other religions we've examined thus far? What connections can you make to the use of myth outside those we've discussed?
As we learned this week in class, myth isn't about the amount of truth that lies within the story, it is actually about finding yourself, your personal beliefs and morals, and putting them into practice in your day to day life. Myth unites people, and gives identity to the groups that associate themselves with a particular mythic tradition.
Judaism, along with the other Abrahamic religions utilized myth to identify themselves as a chosen group. As told by the myth, they are people specifically chosen by God and are descendants of Abraham.
Myths in the Jewish religion are the source of their personal beliefs. Jewish rabbis teach their people about G-d's power and their duty as religious peoples to him. Myth in Judaism unites them as a people, makes them special, a specifically chosen group. It gives members of the group a strong personal identity and people with which to relate to.
Many other religions work off myth as well, and that is easily seen when comparing the texts that each community holds sacred. The Jewish Tanakh, the Christian Bible, the Islamic Qu'ran all have very similar, if not identical stories, that give meaning to their religious teachings and help them to form their own scared beliefs and rituals. The Islamic and Jewish traditions also share the idea of a divine prophet, a direct messenger from God.
Myth can also be found in many Native American cultures, animal myths were often told to provide a moral or value by which one should live by to the listener. These myths also praise the gods, and give a solid identity to a community of peoples.
I like how much emphasis you put on the fact that people are united by myth. A group's identity is important and myth enhances the type of identity they share. Just out of curiosity, could you elaborate more on maybe a specific Native American Animal myth and how it is connected to some of that culture's morals and values? I think that's a really good connection to make to the Abrahamic religions and I'm interested in whatever else you know about Native American myths!
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you pointed out that a main cause of myth is to bring people together. I see how this is true in many cases for religions but also we learned different interpretations of myth has lead to some disunity with the abrahamic religions. It seems that every religion has it's extremists that use the narratives in their religion as a basis for their violent actions. I also liked learning about the other sects of religion that has use their mythic narratives to form mystical forms the religion. It is interesting how myth can be understood in so many different ways and cause either unity or separation.
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