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Sacred Stories

Sacred Stories. Kinds of Sacred Stories. Myth : stories that explain why the world is the way it is Sacred History (narrative): stories which place the sacred within historical persons and/or events Parable : teaching stories. Characteristics of Myth.

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Sacred Stories

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  1. Sacred Stories

  2. Kinds of Sacred Stories • Myth: stories that explain why the world is the way it is • Sacred History (narrative): stories which place the sacred within historical persons and/or events • Parable: teaching stories

  3. Characteristics of Myth • Outside of time & space: Stories of times and places before and beyond the world we live in today (e.g. Eden) • Involving the fantastic: fantastic or supernatural beings (e.g. talking snakes) • Intent: to explain (e.g. origins) and validate (e.g. caste) what is Not “false tales” – beyond proof (because the events are before & beyond historical time) Not how it came to be but what it means

  4. Kinds of Myths • Creation stories - Do not confuse a creation myth with the theory of evolution. Evolution = how; creation = why, meaning, values • Lesser origins (of law, rite, custom, geographic feature) • End of the world (eschatology) • Lesser endings (of a city or empire) • Stories of death and the afterlife • Stories of gods and demons • Stories of transformation or incarnation between the human and non-human

  5. Characteristics of Sacred History Historical but not entirely factual: • Within time & space: • Stories of events that supposedly took place within historical time frame • To some degree provable • A mix of the realistic and the fantastic: • More realistic than myth but still with elements of the fantastic (e.g. the virgin birth) • Certain details of the story beyond proof

  6. Kinds of Sacred History • Narratives of hero figures: Birth of Jesus, life story of Buddha • Narrative of important events:the Exodus • Legends (semi-religious, cultural):King Arthur’s Court, George Washington’s youth Intent: stories told to inspire us, to make certain persons and events “larger than life”, beyond the ordinary

  7. Characteristics of Parables • Realistic events and characters • Events that did not really occur (outside of time & space) • not intended to be taken literally Intent: • to teach a moral lesson (Aesop’s fables) • to teach a spiritual or philosophical truth (Plato’s “the Cave”, Parables of the “Kingdom of Heaven” – Matt. Ch. 13)

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