FULTON BROWN: Wonder Woman, Star Wars, and Jesus–The Reality of ‘Myth’

Dangerous ^ | 12/27/17 | Rachel Fulton Brown

[x1stcav]

I have 1,000 words to convince you to celebrate Christmas—or, as someone on Facebook recently put it, “The Jesus Myth.” Right.

I could try to convince you that Christmas is a fully Christian celebration, having nothing to do with supposed appropriations of pagan festivals, but that presumes that you care about celebrating Christmas as Christian in the first place. What I need to do is convince you that the myth matters as a myth.

This is not a comfortable thought for many modern Christians, accustomed as we are to the accusation that we worship a fairy-tale sky god. If you are a Protestant, you can blame Rudolf Bultmann (d. 1976), the great German Biblical scholar famous for attempting to “de-mythologize” the New Testament. If you are a Catholic, you can still blame the Protestants; they have been accusing Catholics of superstition since the year dot of the sixteenth-century Reform.

And, indeed, if you read the New Testament carefully, it is hard not to argue that Bultmann may have had a point.

[x1stcav]

Don't jump to conclusions as to where the author is going.

[SandRat]

Believing is Seeing, Seeing is Believing.

[ConservativeDude]

that’s a lovely piece. thank you for posting.

[x1stcav]

THX

It’s just another little action in taking back the culture.

[JGT]

Very interesting. You might find the work of Johnathon Pageau insightful. He is trying to resurrect the symbology of traditional Christian cosmology primarily through an Orthodox perspective. His analysis of the Genesis creation story is profound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1-vG-bLDwE&t=326s

[semaj]

Very nice article. Thanks for posting.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Genesis bookmarked.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I googled Jonathan Pageau and his thesis looks extremely interesting. Unfortunately, because of my hearing disability, I can’t (easily or pleasantly) follow videos and podcasts.

Is any of his stuff in plain-old text form on the internet?

[JGT]

I have found some of his writings here: https://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/author/jonathan-pageau/

Unfortunately most of his work appears via video. His brother, Matthieu Pageau, is currently writing a book on traditional Christian symbology. I'm not sure of the release date.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks for that info. Very kind of you to look it up for me.

[JGT]

You’re very welcome!