Editing Religion and mythology (section)

==Introduction==
{{See also|Myth and ritual}}

The relationship between religion and myth depends on what definition of "myth" one uses. By [[Robert Graves]]'s definition, a religion's [[Traditional story|traditional stories]] are "myths" if and only if one does not belong to the religion in question. By Segal's definition, all religious stories are myths—but simply because nearly all [[Narrative|stories]] are myths. By the [[Folklore studies|folklorists]]' definition, all myths are religious (or "sacred") stories, but not all religious stories are myths: religious stories that involve the [[Creation myth|creation of the world]] (e.g., the stories in the [[Book of Genesis]]) are myths; however, some religious stories that don't explain how things came to be in their present form (e.g., [[Hagiography|hagiographies]] of famous [[saint]]s) are not myths. Generally, mythology is the main component of religion alongside ritual.<ref>{{cite book |title=KERYGMA AND MYTH by Rudolf Bultmann and Five Critics edited by Hans Werner Bartsch |last=Bultmann |first=Rudolf |year=2005 |publisher=Harper & Row |url=https://www.religion-online.org/book-chapter/the-mythological-element-in-the-message-of-the-new-testament-and-the-problem-of-its-re-interpretation-part-i/ |page=21}}: "The cosmology of the New Testament is essentially mythical in character."</ref>{{refn|1={{harvnb|Rue|2005|pp=315}}: religious traditions are, essentially, mythic traditions}}{{refn|1={{harvnb|Rue|2005|pp=144-145}}: "At the core of every religious tradition there is found a narrative vision, a myth unifying ultimate reality and value, a story that is expressed, transmitted, and revitalized by a variety of ancillary strategies."}}{{refn|1={{harvnb|Leeming|2005|loc=Introduction, xi}}: "Religious stories are "holy scripture" to believers — narratives used to support, explain, or justify a particular system's rituals, theology, and ethics — and are myths to people of other cultures or belief systems."}}{{refn|1={{harvnb|Gieysztor|1982|p=5}}: "Przez mitologię, stanowiącą część główną religii, rozumiemy system personifikacji, alegorii i symboliki, które wyrażały stosunek człowieka do świata."}} For example, in the [[Early modern Europe|early modern period]], distinguished Christian theologians developed elaborated witch mythologies which contributed to the intensification of [[Witch trials in the early modern period|witch trials]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levack |first1=Brian P. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=48–49 |isbn=978-0-19-515669-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lum96_FPZp0C&pg=PA48}}</ref>  ''The Oxford Companion to World Mythology'' provides the following summary and examples:{{sfn|Leeming|2005|loc=Introduction}}{{sfn|Leeming|2005|loc=Religion and Myth}}<blockquote>Religious stories are "holy scripture" to believers—narratives used to support, explain, or justify a particular system's rituals, theology, and ethics—and are myths to people of other cultures or belief systems. […] It&nbsp;is&nbsp;difficult to believe that the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] was [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|conceived in a dream by a white elephant]], so we call that story a myth as well. But, of course, stories such as the [[Crossing the Red Sea|parting of the Sea of Reeds]] for the fleeing [[Israelites|Hebrews]], [[Muhammad]]'s [[Isra and Mi'raj|Night Journey]], and the dead [[Resurrection of Jesus|Jesus rising from the tomb]] are just as clearly [[Irrationality|irrational]] narratives to which a [[Hindu]] or a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] might understandably apply the word "myth". All of these stories are definable as myths because they contain events that contradict both our intellectual and physical experience of [[reality]].</blockquote>

Most definitions of "myth" limit myths to stories.<ref>Segal 2004, p. 5. See Buxton, p. 18: "There are three elements in [my] definition [of mythology]. '''The least problematic''' is the notion of ''story'': a 'myth' is a narrative, a set of events structured into a sequence". (Bolding added)</ref> Thus, non-narrative elements of religion, such as ritual, are not myths.
===Theology and myth===
The term [[theology]] for the first time appears in the writings of the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] philosophers [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. Initially, theology and mythology were synonymous. With time, both terms gained distinctive qualities:<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica |title=Theology |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818084404/https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology |archive-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>
<blockquote>
In the first place, theology is a spiritual or religious attempt of "believers" to explicate their faith. In this sense it is not neutral and is not attempted from the perspective of removed observation—in contrast to a general history of religions. The implication derived from the religious approach is that it does not provide a formal and indifferent scheme devoid of presuppositions within which all religions could be subsumed. In the second place, theology is influenced by its origins in the Greek and Christian traditions, with the implication that the transmutation of this concept to other religions is endangered by the very circumstances of origination.
</blockquote>
According to Hege, both primitive and modern theology is inescapably constrained by its mythical backbone:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hege |first=Brent A. R.|title=Myth, History, and the Resurrection in German Protestant Theology |year=2017 |page=132 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=9781532617539|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSA6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA132}}</ref>
<blockquote>
[[Hermeneutics|Hermeneutically]], theologians must recognize that mythical thought permeates the [[Bible|biblical texts]]. [[Dogma|Dogmatically]], theologians must be aware of the mythological elements of theology and of how extensively theology relies on mythical forms and functions, especially in light of our awareness of the ubiquity of myth.
</blockquote>

===Religion===
''[[Religion]]'' is a belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or [[Divinity|divine]], and the [[moral code]]s, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief, although some scholars, such as Durkheim, would argue that the supernatural and the divine are not aspects of all religions.<ref>"Religion", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 2007.</ref> Religious beliefs and practices may include the following: a [[deity]] or higher being, [[eschatology]], practices of [[worship]], practices of [[ethics]] and [[politics]]. Some religions do not include all these features.

===Mythology===
The term ''[[mythology]]'' usually refers either to a system of myths or to the study of myths.<ref>"Mythology", ''OED'', 2007.</ref> However, the word "myth" itself has multiple (and some contradictory) definitions:
* 2007: According to the [[Merriam-Webster]] Dictionary, "Myth: "1 a: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the [[world view]] of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. b: [[Parable]], [[Allegory]]. 2 a: a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially: one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of [[society]]. 2b: an unfounded or false notion. 3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence. 4: the whole body of myths.<ref>"Myth", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2007.</ref>

In regards to the study of culture and religion, these are some of the definitions scholars have used:

* 1968: The [[classicist]] [[Robert Graves]] defines myths as "whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student's experience that he cannot believe them to be true."<ref>Graves 1968, p. v.</ref>
* 1973: Another classicist, GS Kirk, rejects the notion that all myths are religious or sacred. In the category of "myth", he includes many legendary accounts that are "[[Secularity|secular]]" for all practical purposes.<ref>Kirk 1973, p. 11.</ref>
* 1997: [[Folklorist]]s define a myth as "a sacred [[narrative]] explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form".<ref>Dundes 1997, p. 45.</ref>
* 2004: In religious studies, the word "myth" is usually reserved for stories whose main characters are gods or [[demigod]]s.<ref name="Segal 2004, p. 5">Segal 2004, p. 5.</ref>
* 2004: The classicist Richard Buxton defines a myth as "a socially powerful traditional story".<ref>Buxton, p. 18</ref>
* 2004: Robert A. Segal, professor of theories of religion at the [[Lancaster University]], defines "myth" broadly as any story whose "main figures [are] personalities -- divine, human, or even animal. Excluded would be impersonal forces such as Plato's Good."<ref name="Segal 2004, p. 5"/>