Imagining God

Myth and Metaphor

Humberto Casanova

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781532688188, 9781532688195
• eBook ISBN: 9781532688201
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

An ever-growing number of Christians are becoming more and more uncomfortable with the tenets of the church, the stories of the Bible, and the church's worldview. Statistics show that these feelings easily escalate into a crisis of faith, and for now their predicament is being resolved by leaving the church. This book will certainly help dealing with the crisis by showing that the language of faith is built by a web of metaphors taken from the Ancient Near East. We do not need to take biblical language literally, but as parables for human values in need to be assessed critically.

Chapter 1

Myth and Metaphor

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything,

that’s how the light gets in.

—Leonard Cohen1

1.1 Myth: Definition

1.1.1 Narrative, Gods, Metaphor and Community

Geoffrey Kirk doubts whether it is possible to construct a universal definition of myth capable of embracing all the myths we know in one single designation.2 This is particularly impossible when trying to formulate a general definition of its social function. However, a quick review of the scholarly research will highlight some key elements that frequently surface in the description of myth: First, myth entails a narrative and, in fact, that’s the meaning of the Greek word muthos (= narrative, story, tale). Second, scholars agree that myth is distinctively a story about the gods or a story in which the gods are key participants3 and, therefore, it is a unique kind of narrative. If we combine these two components, we could say that myth is a “theological narrative.” Myth portrays the gods acting both in a divine world and in the history of humankind. Third, myth is an extended metaphor, that is, myth is a metaphor that has been expanded into a narrative (§1.1.3). Fourth, myth often has the following functional component: it is “a narrative about the deeds of gods and heroes . . . of collective significance to a particular social group or groups.”4 Myth is not the possession of the individual but it belongs to the collective consciousness.5 To summarize: myth is composed by a set of metaphors and symbols elaborated in the form of a narrative. The cumulus of these narratives and expressions serve the purpose of forming a conceptual metaphor. In other words, the sum of all these stories forms a concept of the divine.

The above definition refers to a literary genre, and it is not to be confused with the popular use of the term myth by which we indicate a false belief or statement. A person may say: “the idea that antibiotics kill viruses is nothing but a myth,” that is, this belief is false and has no basis in reality. Note that in this case there is no mention of a narrative about the gods or a story supporting social values. In contrast, the literary genre known as myth (and legend) has been employed as the certified vehicle for transmitting aspirations, values and customs belonging to a community. These values shape, unify and protect a social system by way of stories carved into the collective consciousness. A myth or legend may retain a factual or historical element, but that is not where its importance resides. A myth is “true” not because of its historical accuracy but because it conveys values that are considered essential to the life of the community. When those values change or are abandoned, the myth dies (§5.2).

1.1.2 Metaphor 6

Metaphor is the lifeblood of mythical thinking and, therefore, we need to describe how it functions. First, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explain that “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of anothe...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• List of Illustrations and Tables
• Permissions
• Foreword by Barry L. Bandstra, PhD
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1: Myth and Metaphor
• 2: Anthropomorphism
• 3: Divine world
• 4: Case Study: Monarchy
• 5: Critical Assessment of the King Metaphor
• Glossary
• Bibliography