Category: Christian Myths and Legends
-
The Salem Witch Trials and the Damage of the Single Story Narrative
This week, our group reflected on the viewpoints of those involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and the extent to which the lack of concrete scientific knowledge and religious extremism had an impact on the event. Additionally, we examined the division of the East and West through a religious and geographical lens. Lastly,…
-
Satan’s Temptation of Christ and Parallels Drawn to Other World Religions
For this week’s discussion, my group and I discussed Satan’s Temptation of Christ and the components that form the myth. We also discussed how other world religions have similar narratives in their mythology. Background: The Temptation of Christ is a narrative from the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that tells the story of…
-
How Religious Thought is Encapsulated in Martyrdom Myths
How do myths of martyrdom encapsulate religious thought? This was the question that we explored this week within our discussion group, we focused on two main ways that these myths showcase religious thought. The first being how myths of martyrdom serve as an expression of trust and loyalty to one’s religious convictions, and secondly,…
-
Hidden Messages in Temptation Myths
As we mentioned in our group discussion this week, Satan’s temptation of Christ represents three different temptation; hedonism, egoism, and materialism, which are the three main temptation for people. In contrast to Satan’s temptation of Christ, The Story of Harut and Marut comes to a different ending. While Jesus maintained his position of being faithful…
-
The Miraculous Birth of Christ and Other Similar Narratives
This week our group was tasked with discussing two components from the virgin birth of Christ and relating them the narratives from other religions and myths. An optional discussion was also given regarding what the agency of fantastical beings in religious narratives are according to us. One of the similarities discussed by our group was…
-
The Power of Mythology
In the discussion this week, my group focused on religious narratives and identified some of overarching themes and components that were common within them. To begin, we analyzed the popular Christian narrative of David and Goliath, as told in the biblical Book of Samuel. David and Goliath tells the story of how the young Israelite…
-
Sodom and Gomorrah: The Cities of Sulfur and Fire
You may be wondering what Sodom and Gomorrah are; you might not be familiar with these two names immediately, however, it is most likely that you have heard their story. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned across several religious texts, from the Bible to The Testament to the Quran. Sodom and Gomorrah are…
-
Fantastical Beings in Religion: Where Did They Come From and Why Are They Here?
The origin of fantastical beings remain a mystery to this day. Some speculate that they are derived from human imagination and creativity, others believe that the beasts are used as a tool to establish man’s place in the cosmos, or perhaps, these fantastical beasts are another icon devoted to inspiring faith among people. In David…
-
The 3 Abrahamic Religions
A point that was brought up during this week’s discussion was that the favorable representation of Cherubim as cute angels is mirrored by the appearance of Jesus being assumed to be Caucasian. This article makes an interesting point on how cultures portray religious figures to look like the dominant racial identity – https://www.history.com/news/what-did-jesus-look-like. Thus, this…
-
Super natural Creatures
This week our group talked about how the perception of Jinn in Islamic lore has changed over time. And we also compared and contrasted other religion’s beliefs in supernatural creatures. To start off, as Alejandro mentioned that a mysticism said that to be a Muslim one must believe in Jinn which shows the great importance…