Editing Christian mythology (section)

===Renaissance and Reformation===
During the Renaissance, there arose a critical attitude that sharply distinguished between [[Sacred Tradition|apostolic tradition]] and what George Every calls "subsidiary mythology"—popular legends surrounding saints, relics, the cross, etc.—suppressing the latter.<ref>Every 21</ref>
[[File:San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, unicorn.jpg|right|thumb|[[Unicorn]] [[mosaic]] on a 1213  church floor in [[Ravenna]]]]
The works of Renaissance writers often included and expanded upon Christian and non-Christian stories such as those of creation and the [[Fall of man|Fall]]. Rita Oleyar describes these writers as "on the whole, reverent and faithful to the primal myths, but filled with their own insights into the nature of God, man, and the universe".<ref name ="oleyar40-41">Oleyar 40–41</ref> An example is [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', an "epic elaboration of the Judeo-Christian mythology" and also a "veritable encyclopedia of myths from the Greek and Roman tradition".<ref name ="oleyar40-41"/>

According to Cynthia Stewart, during the Reformation, the Protestant reformers used "the [[founding myth]]s of Christianity" to critique the church of their time.<ref>Stewart 72–73</ref>

Every argues that "the disparagement of myth in our own civilization" stems partly from objections to perceived idolatry, objections which intensified in the Reformation, both among Protestants and among Catholics reacting against the classical mythology revived during the Renaissance.<ref>Every 11</ref>