Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Purpose of Myth

For some people myth clarifies the rituals of a community. Others use it as the quasi-scientific explanation of events in our environment (e.g. thunder, rain, etc.).

C. S. Lewis understood myth to be a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. It established metaphors and mental images through which pagans could understand the significance of the Incarnation. (Doris T. Myers, C. S. Lewis in Context, 210-211)

"Whatever things [including myths] have been well said by all men belong to us Christians." (Justin Martyr quoted by Myers, 213)

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