Please read Chapter 2, "God and Satan", in Myth and Ritual in Christianity, answer the following questions and send to Dr. Katia at the Mystery School with the subject line MythRitual Chapter 2 from _____________ (your spiritual name)
1. What are the two types of knowledge confused in theology of the Western world?
2. Define metaphysics.
3. What does a metaphysical doctrine assert?
4. Christian dogma combines a ____________ story which is for the most part Hebrew, and a group of ____________ , “concepts” which are Greek, and then proceeds to treat both as -__________ __ ____- as information about objective realities inhabiting (a) the world of _______, and (b) the “____________” world existing parallel to the historical, but on a higher plane. In other words, it talks about mythology and metaphysics in the language of _______.
5. Define Theology.
6. What do the historians, the chroniclers, and the analysts of fact record?
7. When did Christianity begin to die?
8. Without ____ good cannot be recognized. [Note this is only one theory on the Problem of Evil. Theories abound as to why we have evil in the world. See Inner Christianity Chapter 2, the section of that chapter called "The Meaning of the Fall" for other ideas of why it exists]
9. On what rests all the achievements of human culture?
10. When what is remembered is mistaken for ____ __, ___ _______, we are as confused as if we were trying to drive a car looking only into the rear/vision mirror.
11. If God has to _______ _______, he is not ____ . If he has to know, to________ , himself, he is not _____. And a God who does not perform _____________ of knowing himself as an ______ is still omniscient, knowing all things, since he himself is not in the class of things.
12. Western consciousness feels itself to exist primarily as what?
13. The Western God is likewise a __________ ____ -- a ________ _____ existing in total separation from the physical universe .
14. Good/intentioned “_” wrestles with wayward “__” like a rider on an unbroken horse.
15. On the Aesculapian symbol of the Caduceus, what does the two serpent entwined about the rod represent.
16. This ___________ of the ___________ to a unique event in the __________ ____thus renders the myth “____” and ineffective for the present. For when myth is ________ ____ _______, it ceases to apply to man’s inner life. Myth is only "revelation” so long as it is a _______ ____ ______ -- that is, from the________ and ___/__________ world -- expressing not what was true once, but what is ____ ______.
17. What does God say in Isaia 45:7 ?
18. A truly problematic evil arises in human life when ?
19 . What is the tragedy of Christianity?
20. Why is this a tragedy?
Dr. Katia adds: Keep in mind that we can't say all of Christianity is "mere myth". Esotericists believe Yeshua was indeed a historical figure, but that we can never know which details of his life were truly historical. Many were no doubt added and are "myth". As Richard Smoley says in the Introduction to his book, Inner Christianity, "...in writing off so much of the central sacred texts of the tradition, it tends to weaken and even invalidate the Christian message. The endless debate about the "historical Jesus" versus the "Christ of faith," which has been going on for over two centuries without a satisfactory resolution, is the most obvious example of this impasse. Esotericism differs from conventional views in holding that the Bible has always been meant to be read on several different levels." Smoley goes on to say that the literal level is the lowest, and the mythical reading level (or symbolic level) is higher. He quotes St. Origin as saying, "Scripture interweaves the imaginary with the historical." So don't write off Jesus as a non-historical character. He really did live and you aren't a fundamentalist if you believe that. <grin>
Please put in your email any thoughts, comments or opinions you might have on the above historical vs. mythical debate.
Myth & Ritual Lessons | Arch-Presvyter(a) Study Hall
Questions by Presvytera Ember