Tag Archives: myth

Hubris, Chris Christie, and Greek Tragedy

Not just Democrats and far-right Republicans, but playwrights and screenwriters, will be jumping all over Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” scandal. Why? Because Chris Christie is caught in a whirlpool of hubris, and the ancient Greeks tragedians have taught us how such … Continue reading

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An Angry, One-Eyed Monster

Sometimes an angry, one-eyed monster is just an angry, one-eyed monster, but what would Freud say?

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Question of the Day

If Adam or Eve, in the Garden of Eden, had cut down a tree, would they have discovered that it possessed tree rings? Image source: Wikipedia Commons.

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Rabbi Rami Shapiro: Bible Stories Are Just Pretend

Rabbi Rami Shapiro offers a thought-provoking response to a recent atheist billboard: On the Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel atheists have posted a billboard featuring the three Magi approaching the manger. The text reads, “You Know It’s a Myth. This … Continue reading

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A Curious Parallel Between Genesis and the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish

Biblical scholars see parallels between the creation story of Genesis chapter 1 and the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish. Here’s an example: Parallels like the one above suggest that Genesis 1 was written by a Jew living in Babylonian exile, and that the story … Continue reading

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A LIBERAL AND HUMANIST Mythic Hero: Out of Compassion for Our Suffering and Ignorance, He Stole Fire from Heaven and Gave It to Mankind—and For This He Endured the Punishment of Zeus. An Image of PROMETHEUS Bound to a Rock, and a BIRD Plucking at His Liver

He fought the gods and, by exposing their injustice, delegitimized them, and won.

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What Language Are You at Home In?: Richard Rorty and the Languages That We Speak

The philosopher Richard Rorty used to suggest that the way that a person talks about things should be thought of as a language. Thus there are people who, in addition to speaking, say, English, also communicate in such languages as: Reformed Calvinism Speak … Continue reading

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What is an Etiological Narrative? And Might Confusion About Its Nature Be the Source for Fundamentalist Religion?

An etiological narrative is a story that purports to explain (in mythic, religious, or literary terms) the origin of something. It is, in other words, an imaginitive story triggered by a question about how (or why) something came to be in the … Continue reading

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Moses, Monotheism–and Akhenaten

I recently read the book, “Akhenaten and Tutankhamun: Revolution and Restoration” (Silverman et. al. 2006). The book is 188 pages long. About half of those pages are taken up by image, the other half by text. Thus, in about 90-100 pages you … Continue reading

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Jacob and the angel–or Enkidu and Gilgamesh

The Gilgamesh Epic embodies the tensions between order and wildness, not in the gods Apollo and Dionysus, as Nietzsche claims that the ancient Greeks do, but in the god-like characters of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Gilgamesh is a city-dwelling ruler of a … Continue reading

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