Re: Huh?

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 10:45 AM, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3@ckt.net> wrote:

> A "myth", anthropologically speaking, is a story about God, or a god, or the
> gods. Its truth or falsity has no bearing. Therefore, even though
> "Stranger" is modern fiction, it could be myth, Christian, (well, duh, it's
> clearly about Jesus) or otherwise.

I think we all know that some modern fiction could be classed as
"Christian mythology" -- I think that's what started the whole
discussion?

I also don't know that any of the discussion required a definition of mythology.

It's been a long time since I read Stranger in a Strange Land, so my
recollection of it was that Valentine Michael Smith could definitely
be read as a Christ-like messiah figure, but I was not sure that the
similarities were strong enough to constitute "Christian mythology"
along the same lines as "Lamb" by Christopher Moore, which is an
out-and-out re-imagining of the life of Christ. That was the original
context of the discussion.

As an example of where I think it becomes difficult to classify
literature as "Christian" or not -- Paul Atreides in Dune is
definitely a messiah figure, and Herbert deliberately drew on
Christian themes (as well as Islam, Hinduism, and many other
religions), but I'm not sure that I would in any way class Dune as
"Christian mythology."

What I was trying to voice is that, depending on how stringently one
elected to define "Christian mythology" in this context, any novel
with a Christ-like figure could be considered Christian mythology. I'm
not sure if that's useful; I don't think it's overstating things to
say that the vast majority of modern literature has been influenced by
Christianity, but I would be hesitant to start labeling literature
without *explicit* ties to Christianity as "Christian mythology."

Kirsten