Rels. 205 Lecture 3.2 It’s a Myth

What do we mean by "myth"? “It’s a myth. Santa does not exist.”

Conspiracies sometimes happen Hans Ernst Schneider = Hans Schwerte ( ) ( )

Myth “It’s a myth. Prof. Hexham didn’t win the $10,000,000 lottery. Rudolf Bultmann ( ) Jesus Christ and Mythology (1960) Demythologize

Myth and Mystification Mircea Eliade ( )

Joseph Campbell ( )

Carl Gustav Jung ( )

Richard Noll and Adriane Berger Tainted Greatness Antisemitism and Cultural Heroes edited by Nancy A. Harrowitz Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1994 Random House New York, 1997 Princeton University Press Princeton, 1994

Academics in Denial Fascism and Myth Robert S. Ellwood SUNY, New York, 1999 Bryan S. Rennie SUNY, New York 1996 David Cave Oxford University Press New York, 1993

“Eliade had Jewish friends …”

JOSEPH GOEBBELS ( ) So did he, and a Jewish mistress too …

Judentum not individual Jews

JOHANN VON LEERS – OMAR AMIN ( ) Cf. Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question, Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher,

Spirituality Alfred Rosenberg ( )

Stark Realities Fascism and Myth Houston Stewart Chamberlain ( )

Myth in Anthropology Bronislaw Malinowski, ( ). "Myth in Primitive Psychology," in Magic, Science and Religion, (1954:96-111).

Summary of Malinowski’s View It is essential to ask how are myths used in social situations where they are important and not to base theories on the reading of texts.

John Middleton (1921-) "a myth is a statement about society and man's place in it and in the surrounding universe....Myths and cosmological notions are concerned with the relationship of a people with other peoples, with nature and with the supernatural." John Middleton, ed., Myth and Cosmos, New York, Natural History Press, 1967: x.

Myth and Narrative Walter Fisher, Human Communication as Narration Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1987

Political Myth Henry Tudor, Political Myth, London, Macmillan, 1972

Myth defined: A story with culturally formative power that functions to direct the life and thought of individuals, groups or societies.

Types of Myth Fiction Semi-fiction Historical stories

Fiction – Myths The Bodhisattva in the deer park

Semi-Fictitious Myths King Arthur

King Arthur and Glastonbury

Historical Myths

Life in the Cape

Burgersdorp

Crossing the Orange

The Trek

Trek Routes

Settlement

ZULULAND

Tugela

Zulu

Dingane (d. 1843)

Treachery

Troubles

Resolution

A Saviour Andries Pretorius ( )

Blood River

Defenses

Sacred Ground

Salvation History Battle of Blood River 16 December 1836

The Vow

Church of the Vow

The First Church

The New World

Voortrekker Monument

Myth and Doctrine “The Lord your God is One” “Jesus is Lord” God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit Three gods or One God? What does the Hebrew Bible say? What does the New Testament say? What do Christians say?

Doctrines That which is believed, a dogma. The official teachings or beliefs of a religious group.