Homework – due in

Critically compare the use of symbol with the use of analogy to express human understanding of God (35 marks)

MYTH

Religious Language

Mythical beasts

Myths communicate values, beliefs and truths What truths could your mythical beast reveal? What deeper significance could the story

communicate?

Myth

What is myth?

Muthos (Gk.) Originally referred to a word or speech or anything

delivered by word of mouth Came to mean a fictional story

MacQuarrie – booklets, p.16

Characteristics

of Myth

Dramaticand

Narrative

Evocative

Immediacy

Alogicality

Remoteness

in time and space

Community

Discussion

What is a fundamentalist?What is an atheist?How might fundamentalists and atheists be a

bit similar?

Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr believed that myth must be taken ‘seriously but not literally’

This is different from the fundamentalist view that religious language must be taken literally

It is also different from the atheist rejection of religion as ‘just a myth’

Fundamentalism and Atheism

Fundamentalists and atheists often share the idea that religious language must be taken literally and judged on that basis

Niebhur’s recommendation to take myth seriously but not literally opens up other possibilities

Rudolf Bultmann

A blind acceptance of New Testament mythology would be simply arbitrariness; to make such acceptance a

demand of faith would be to reduce faith to a work

Demythologizing the bible

The central message of Christianity:let go of self-centredness and open up to God’s grace

Existential interpretation

Myth worksheet

Fill in your line of the grid Include lots of detail about the possible existential

meaning of the story Justify your answer about whether someone can be a

Christian and reject the literal truth of the story – you could use p.17-18 in the booklet to help you do this

Fill in the rest of the grid based on the other groups’ feedback

Traditional Story Possible existential meaning

Can someone be a Christian and reject the literal truth of this story?

Creation(Genesis, chapters 1 to 2)

Fall(Genesis chapter 3)

Flood(Genesis chapters 6 to 9)

Virgin Birth(Luke 1:26-38)

Traditional Story Possible existential meaning

Can someone be a Christian and reject the literal truth of this story?

Incarnation(John 1:1-18)

Jesus’ miracles(Luke chapters 4 and 5)

Resurrection(Luke chapter 24)

Last Judgment(Matthew 25:31-46)

Evaluation of Bultmann

Strengths Weaknesses