Wednesday, January 25, 2006

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.

2 Comments:

Blogger TW said...

Hey that's my second cousin you're talking about! Quite interesting though, I wish I could get a copy. We foreigners here were having a discussion about religion the other night and the other two fought for the tradition which I assume Watts would like to believe as well, a synthesis of all myths into one (these two argued if only for the sake of unity). A difficult problem that one is. Miss you and the discussions.

5:07 AM  
Blogger b said...

that's interesting, i did a paper a while ago on common religious mythological motifs and architypes in art. ie: different conceptions of creation and a salvation. which sort of got me thinking... don't you think a lot of religions are sort of inspired by pre-existing religions (ie: the first religion/Judaism)? for example, the islam religion mirrors much of that of the hebrew religion. ie: their pilgimage to mecca... how many centeries were the hebrews making pilgrimages to Jerusalem before this? and praying towards mecca, christians pray towards the east and hebrews pray towards the west.. could much of this not have been "inspired" by pre-existing religions? even our country was heavily influenced by mosaic law. at any rate... your book sounds interesting, but does "opinion" mean that it is going to piss me off? right now, i really do not feel like reading a book that is going to piss me off... but you say it's a breezy read so maybe i will check it out... maybe

3:19 PM  

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