Myth and Ritual in Christianity, cont'd.

I finished the book a few minutes ago. Overall, a worthwhile read -- and one that can be done in about a day if you set aside the time. Real quick read, but a lot of substance there. Like I said, some good stuff and a lot of trash. The main problem is that he wants to shape Christian mythology into a universal mythology. Watts insists that because similar motifs exist in mythologies around the world, they must be identical and all contain (the same) truth. He never says this, in fact he denies it. He explicitly states that Christianity is not Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism. Yet, time and again he attempts to make it adhere to a particular standard. Constantly criticizing "Western man" Watts tries to construct an image of the Christian mythos that is in fact identical to the Hindu and Buddhist myths. I agree that there are similar motifs, and that these motifs might perhaps be inherent in human psychology, but just because the mythology of (orthodox) Christianity does not line up with the Eastern mythologies does not mean that either one is necessarily on the right track or contains eternal truth. I happen to believe that one of these mythologies does indeed contain Truth, but that is not the necessary outcome of motifs and images. Watt's explanation is in the end an oversimplification that simultaneously demands too much and too little of various mythologies. However, like I had previously noted, many of his insights into Christian mythology, especially the correlations with Hebraic thought are quite helpful. Furthermore, his insistance on Christianity as a mystical religion rather than a scientific one echoes the demands of many Christian mystics over the centuries, as well as modern writers like Kierkegaard. In the end, I would recommend the book to anyone looking for a deeper look at the living mythology of Christianity -- as long as they don't mind wading through a bit of opinion and assumption along the way.