Friday, December 16, 2016

Does Greek Mythology rhyme, echo, or retell with the stories of the Bible?

Not directly. The sources of Greek mythology did not have direct contact with the sources of biblical writings, and vice versa, in any way that would make borrowing likely or even plausible.

There are, however, archetypal ideas found in different forms in every set of writings about the very basic human concerns. We all are concerned with right, wrong, life, after life, etc.

The view that the Bible is "actual reality" is hugely off base. The Bible has a lot of mythology.

The creation story is not factual, nor is the Flood. No one can verify that Moses existed or that the Hebrew people were enslaved in Egypt, much less wandered in the desert. Some of the historical books bear a passing resemblance to verifiable history, but could hardly be called actual history. We know precious little about the person of one Jesus of Nazareth, somewhat more about some of his followers, but not much.

These are just a few of the many ways in which the Bible is a mythological anthology, much of it not even written down by its original sources.

The Bible, however, is not about facts but faith. As Greek mythology was.

Mythology is not a collection of falsehoods, as some believe, but rather a literary form of telling foundational stories.


This is a repost from my replies to questions posted on Quora, a question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited and organized by its community of users, at quora.com. The questions and their subtexts are not mine.

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