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What are religious myths?
What are examples of Christian mythology?
What does mythology mean?
What is Greek mythology?
Myth, a symbolic narrative, usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional, that is especially associated with religious belief. Myths often relate extraordinary events in a time that is unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience.
- Carol Woods
- The Witch of Endor. Saul and the Witch of Endor in one of the religious myths dated 1526. Found in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Christian Bible has an injunction against the practice of witchcraft and divination, and that can probably be blamed on the Witch of Endor.
- Jainism. Among the religious myths is the Jain faith, which is one of the oldest Indian religions, the mountain is the earthly representation of the legendary Mount Meru, the center of the universe.
- Bonism. Bonism is the native religion in Tibet. It considers the mountain to be the legendary nine-story religious text of the swastika cross of Bon Mountain.
- Holi. In religious myths the vitality of Hindu festivals is largely due to Holi, a festival of colors and a harbinger of spring in India. The beginning of Holi is marked by the burning of an effigy of Holika, an evil entity in Hindu mythology, to signify the reign of good over evil.
An example is the way geometric and animal figures abound in the history of religions. Another example is the use of sacred masks, as in the mysteries of Dionysus, an ecstatic cult in the Aegean world of Classical antiquity, and the indigenous traditions of Australia, America, prehistoric Europe, and elsewhere.
Examples include the enthronements of kings, which in some traditions (as in Fiji or ancient India) are associated with a creation or re-creation of the world.
Learning Outcomes. By the end of this section, you will be able to: Define myth. Explain the social importance of myth. Analyze mythic meaning using a structural approach. Explain the importance of oral tradition in religion. The Role of Myth in Religion.
Examples of (1) Christian myths not mentioned in canon and (2) literary and traditional elaborations on canonical Christian mythology: Versions of Christian mythology used by Gnostic Christianity. The Valentinian creation myth involving Sophia and the demiurge. The Manichaean creation myth.
In a religious context, myths are storied vehicles of supreme truth, the most basic and important truths of all. By them, people regulate and interpret their lives and find worth and purpose in their existence. Myths put one in touch with sacred realities, the fundamental sources of being, power, and truth.
