Mythticism

According to a feminist theologian I read a while back, theology is the art of telling stories about the divine and then listening to them. I've begun to see that religions are different methods of describing the Absolute. This would be considered a mythological approach. And this is, of course, heresy. Not the statement itself, but the implication of it.

According to this idea, no book or prayer or song or liturgy is more sacred than any other of the same kind. For example, a copy of the Gita vs the Torah vs the Quran vs the New Testament would be equal as far as their religious validity. This is not to say that all interpretations are equally good. Some lead to bigotry and hatred while others lead to sexual irresponsibility and others to self-harm. Many there are, however, that lead to peace. And some seem to lead nowhere at all.

These books and systems do present different mythologies that point to something beyond temporal human experience, and I'm calling that the Absolute. Mythologies give people that which is beyond them. There are larger-than-life characters along with miracles and symbolic stories and wise sayings. These things are good, and often they are resonantly truthful. It is important to remember, though that they are not all literal, and that one does not trump another. Rather, they need to be visualized within their context of place and time written, along with how they harmonize (or don't) with the other stories in their traditions. That is the essence of any organized religion. How does a group emphasize one thing over another and then act on it? Which parts of the text are most important? That's where diversity arises.

The examples that come to mind are the major splits in the religions of the Book: Judaism is split into Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform; Christianity is split into Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant; Islam is split into Sunni and Shia. These all use the same source material (per their tradition) but interpret in ways different enough to make unity unrealistic. I am imagining asking any serious observant of any of these faiths about the story of Adam and Eve. The gist would be the same, but the particular emphases would probably be pretty different. (Original sin, for example, would be a big thing to look for in the telling by each person.) The mythology, however, is central to all of these faiths. The way that it is told and listened to is the biggest way to understand the point of view of the sect telling it.

In each, Adam is a way to understand the point at which the Absolute intersects with humanity. And in the wake of scientific understanding, the validity of the Eden myth is no less important. If we understand Adam and Eve and the garden and the Fall, then we know something. And that something is what mythology is all about.

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