Myths and the Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament contains many myths. However, it should not be thought myths are untrue. These myths were used by the ancients to illustrate various truths of life. Essentially, these myths are archetypal in nature and ring a chord in mankind's psyche. There is no doubt that these myths have had a powerful effect on Western culture. Joseph Campbell states about myths:

Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, the myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and mind. It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Religion, philosophies, arts, the social forms of primitive and historic man, prime discoveries in science and technology, the very dreams that blister,sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth (Campbell 3).

In the Hebrew Bible, such In the Hebrew Bible, such myths as the Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Fall all serve the purpose of demonstrating some of the great archetypal truths of mankind and humanity's relationship to God and existence. Myths assist people in their search for their religious identity. These myths consist of images, metaphors, selecting the way their lives.

Dreams express a central part of reality and are an integral component of

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going around it. Humanity thus lost its central position in the universe. However, with the second version of Creation in Genesis, mankind was never in the center of things or created in the image of God. This conflict or contradiction indicates two different mythological traditions concerning the creation of humanity. Even to this day, the conflict about mankind's creation continues in Western society. Adam and Eve--Further Thoughts Biallas suggests: "The myth of Adam and Eve is the story of fundamental human questions. It tells us of the loss of human unity with the Divine One, the origin of our separate and individual personalities, and the origin of evil as a consequence of free will" (Biallas 65). The Adam and Eve myth has had a highly significant effect upon the moral and ethical values of Western culture. Sex is a perfectly natural element in the animal world, yet more problems surround sex than any other subject. Perhaps this arises from Western society's Calvinistic background. John Calvin, of the Protestant Reformation, was particularly concerned with the sin of Adam and the f all f rom Grace. From this, the doctrine of mankind's basic depravity was developed. According to Calvin, due to Adam's original

Category: Philosophy - M