The Truth of Myth

The Truth of Myth PDF Author: Tok Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197506690
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
The Truth of Myth is a thorough and accessible introduction to the study of myth, surveying the intellectual history of the topic, methods for studying myth cross-culturally, and emerging trends. Readers will encounter insightful commentaries on such questions as: What is the relation of mythology to religion? To science? To popular culture? Did the events recounted in myths actually occur? Why does the term "myth" have so many contradictory definitions and connotations? Offering serious students with an intellectual "toolkit" for launching into this fascinating field, the book is especially useful in conjunction with case studies of individual mythological traditions.

The Truth of Myth

The Truth of Myth PDF Author: Tok Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197506690
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book

Book Description
The Truth of Myth is a thorough and accessible introduction to the study of myth, surveying the intellectual history of the topic, methods for studying myth cross-culturally, and emerging trends. Readers will encounter insightful commentaries on such questions as: What is the relation of mythology to religion? To science? To popular culture? Did the events recounted in myths actually occur? Why does the term "myth" have so many contradictory definitions and connotations? Offering serious students with an intellectual "toolkit" for launching into this fascinating field, the book is especially useful in conjunction with case studies of individual mythological traditions.

The Truth of Myth

The Truth of Myth PDF Author: Tok Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190222786
Category : Manners and customs
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
"To the student of myth: This book attempts to provide a concise overview of the theoretical approaches to studying mythology, both in theory and in everyday life. Whether one is interested in a particular myth or mythic tradition, or understanding comparative mythology more broadly, or even the subject and overview of mythology as a whole, this text attempts to present a clear and understandable introduction to some of the best tried and true approaches, as well as to address some of the perennial problems and points of confusion. To embark on the study of myth is to join a noisy chorus of scholars, both present and past, in attempting to divine the meaning of some of the most important, intriguing, and at times puzzling narratives that humankind has ever crafted. We hope this text will help provide you with the theoretical background and tools to allow for a rich, full study of mythology in all its myriad forms. To the teacher of myth: Myth has been the source of a great deal of theoretical disagreement and confusion as well. We have tried to address some of the controversies by appealing to a close and careful consideration of the data, which at times helps keep lofty theorizing firmly anchored in the real world. Additionally, we have tried to present a historical background to the study of myth, which should also help illuminate the close relationships between a society, and that society's views of myth. Mythology does not occur without people: it is only with a strong grounding in the study of humankind that we can hope to make progress in our understanding. Where doubt within the scholarly community has arisen, we have tried to pay attention to both sides of the debates. The resulting text is intended to be a detailed, yet engaging, introduction to the study of world mythology, and a scholarly counterweight to popular, unscientific views. Our experience in teaching myth is that the most vexing issues stem from the several strained if not contradictory connotations that the term myth carries. Is myth archaic, or is it part of all societies and thus modern as well? Is it part of religion and/or science, or does it contrast with these? Most vexingly, does myth designate falsehood, or the highest forms of truth-those that form the core, guiding principles of particular societies' engagements of the cosmos and life within it? There is also the double signification of the term mythology, which points to both an academic tradition and the object studied by that tradition. Our view is that while such antinomies are unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future, much can be gained by locating and identifying them and by attempting to understand how and why they have emerged. We hope that this approach not only lends clarity to the topic of myth, but also serves to energize the study to which we now turn"--

The Truth of Myth

The Truth of Myth PDF Author: Tok Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190222794
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The Truth of Myth is a thorough and accessible introduction to the study of myth, surveying the intellectual history of the topic, methods for studying myth cross-culturally, and emerging trends. Readers will encounter insightful commentaries on such questions as: What is the relation of mythology to religion? To science? To popular culture? Did the events recounted in myths actually occur? Why does the term "myth" have so many contradictory definitions and connotations? Offering serious students with an intellectual "toolkit" for launching into this fascinating field, the book is especially useful in conjunction with case studies of individual mythological traditions.

The Truth of Myth

The Truth of Myth PDF Author: Tok Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780190222802
Category : Manners and customs
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"To the student of myth: This book attempts to provide a concise overview of the theoretical approaches to studying mythology, both in theory and in everyday life. Whether one is interested in a particular myth or mythic tradition, or understanding comparative mythology more broadly, or even the subject and overview of mythology as a whole, this text attempts to present a clear and understandable introduction to some of the best tried and true approaches, as well as to address some of the perennial problems and points of confusion. To embark on the study of myth is to join a noisy chorus of scholars, both present and past, in attempting to divine the meaning of some of the most important, intriguing, and at times puzzling narratives that humankind has ever crafted. We hope this text will help provide you with the theoretical background and tools to allow for a rich, full study of mythology in all its myriad forms. To the teacher of myth: Myth has been the source of a great deal of theoretical disagreement and confusion as well. We have tried to address some of the controversies by appealing to a close and careful consideration of the data, which at times helps keep lofty theorizing firmly anchored in the real world. Additionally, we have tried to present a historical background to the study of myth, which should also help illuminate the close relationships between a society, and that society's views of myth. Mythology does not occur without people: it is only with a strong grounding in the study of humankind that we can hope to make progress in our understanding. Where doubt within the scholarly community has arisen, we have tried to pay attention to both sides of the debates. The resulting text is intended to be a detailed, yet engaging, introduction to the study of world mythology, and a scholarly counterweight to popular, unscientific views. Our experience in teaching myth is that the most vexing issues stem from the several strained if not contradictory connotations that the term myth carries. Is myth archaic, or is it part of all societies and thus modern as well? Is it part of religion and/or science, or does it contrast with these? Most vexingly, does myth designate falsehood, or the highest forms of truth-those that form the core, guiding principles of particular societies' engagements of the cosmos and life within it? There is also the double signification of the term mythology, which points to both an academic tradition and the object studied by that tradition. Our view is that while such antinomies are unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future, much can be gained by locating and identifying them and by attempting to understand how and why they have emerged. We hope that this approach not only lends clarity to the topic of myth, but also serves to energize the study to which we now turn"--

The World of Myth

The World of Myth PDF Author: David Adams Leeming
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199762724
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh--these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization, representing common concerns that each society voices in its own idiom. Whether an Egyptian story of creation or the big-bang theory of modern physics, myth is metaphor, mirroring our deepest sense of ourselves in relation to existence itself. Now, in The World of Myth, Leeming provides a sweeping anthology of myths, ranging from ancient Egypt and Greece to the Polynesian islands and modern science. We read stories of great floods from the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Chinese, and Mayans; tales of apocalypse from India, the Norse, Christianity, and modern science; myths of the mother goddess from Native American Hopi culture and James Lovelock's Gaia. Leeming has culled myths from Aztec, Greek, African, Australian Aboriginal, Japanese, Moslem, Hittite, Celtic, Chinese, and Persian cultures, offering one of the most wide-ranging collections of what he calls the collective dreams of humanity. More important, he has organized these myths according to a number of themes, comparing and contrasting how various societies have addressed similar concerns, or have told similar stories. In the section on dying gods, for example, both Odin and Jesus sacrifice themselves to renew the world, each dying on a tree. Such traditions, he proposes, may have their roots in societies of the distant past, which would ritually sacrifice their kings to renew the tribe. In The World of Myth, David Leeming takes us on a journey "not through a maze of falsehood but through a marvellous world of metaphor," metaphor for "the story of the relationship between the known and the unknown, both around us and within us." Fantastic, tragic, bizarre, sometimes funny, the myths he presents speak of the most fundamental human experience, a part of what Joseph Campbell called "the wonderful song of the soul's high adventure."

Living Myths

Living Myths PDF Author: J. F. Bierlein
Publisher: Wellspring/Ballantine
ISBN: 0345422074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Reveals how key myths of the world present timeless truths that enrich our understanding of the world and the role humans play today.

Essays on the History of Religions

Essays on the History of Religions PDF Author: Pettazzoni
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004377921
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Preliminary Material /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Preface /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Formation of Monotheism /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Truth of Myth /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Myths of Beginnings and Creation-Myths /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- IO and Rangi /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Confession of Sins: An Attempted General Interpretation /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Confession of Sins and the Classics /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Introduction to the History of Greek Religion /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Religion of Ancient Thrace /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Wheel in the Ritual Symbolism of Some Indo-European Peoples /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Carmenta /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Gaulish Three-Faced God on Planetary Vases /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Regnator Omnivm Devs /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- West Slav Paganism /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Sarapis and His “Kerberos” /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Aion--(Kronos)Chronos in Egypt /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- The Monstrous Figure of Time in Mithraism /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- East and West /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- State Religion and Individual Religion in the Religious History of Italy /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- History and Phenomenology in the Science of Religion /Raffaele Pettazzoni -- Index /Raffaele Pettazzoni.

Myth, Truth and Literature

Myth, Truth and Literature PDF Author: Colin Falck
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521467513
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Colin Falck's book has had a widespread influence since it first appeared in 1989. Hailed as a work that alters the way we think about literary theory and its institutionalisation in America and Britain, it is a philosophically informed account of the 'paradigm-shift' required to replaced structuralism and post-structuralism as modes of perceiving literature and related culture. Falck now supplements this second paperback edition with an appendix and other new material.

Myth, Truth, and Narrative in Herodotus

Myth, Truth, and Narrative in Herodotus PDF Author: , Emily Baragwanath
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199693978
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
This volume brings together 13 original articles which review, re-establish, and rehabilitate the origins, forms, and functions of the mythological elements that are found in the narratives of Herodotus' Histories.

Myths America Lives By

Myths America Lives By PDF Author: Richard T. Hughes
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252050800
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Six myths lie at the heart of the American experience. Taken as aspirational, four of those myths remind us of our noblest ideals, challenging us to realize our nation's promise while galvanizing the sense of hope and unity we need to reach our goals. Misused, these myths allow for illusions of innocence that fly in the face of white supremacy, the primal American myth that stands at the heart of all the others.