Myth strengths and weaknesses


	Myth strengths and weaknesses
	Advantages A myth is like a symbol in that it points to objective truths and often to a higher reality give a deep and meaningful view of God as creator if biblical stories are viewed in a mythical sense, they cannot require scientific or historical evidence Avoids the criticisms of Ayer and Flew Bultmann argues that it is only by understanding religious language in a mythological sense that modern believer will be able to square their scientific understanding of the world with miraculous events in the bible when the bible was written, myths were a common means of conveying meaning	Disadvantages how do we know which myths a communicating an objective truth? how can we be sure that we are understanding the right truth? (e.g. stewardship vs. dominion) if there is a truth to be expressed, it should able to be expressed directly understanding the bible as a myth goes against how many people understand the bible (i.e. communcating literal truths) it is disagreement over literal truths that separate religions (didi Jesus rise from the dead?) how can we distinguish between a ficional story and a myth? interpretation will depend in the individual
	Evaluation

A myth is like a symbol in that it points to objective truths and often to a higher reality
give a deep and meaningful view of God as creator
if biblical stories are viewed in a mythical sense, they cannot require scientific or historical evidence
Avoids the criticisms of Ayer and Flew
Bultmann argues that it is only by understanding religious language in a mythological sense that modern believer will be able to square their scientific understanding of the world with miraculous events in the bible
when the bible was written, myths were a common means of conveying meaning

how do we know which myths a communicating an objective truth?
how can we be sure that we are understanding the right truth? (e.g. stewardship vs. dominion)
if there is a truth to be expressed, it should able to be expressed directly
understanding the bible as a myth goes against how many people understand the bible (i.e. communcating literal truths)
it is disagreement over literal truths that separate religions (didi Jesus rise from the dead?)
how can we distinguish between a ficional story and a myth?
interpretation will depend in the individual

Get Revising