Understanding Myths as Saving Truths
Reading Joseph Campbell on Costs of Misreading Myths Utter failure of our education in the schools and the pulpit is evidenced by equation of myth with trith (lie), asserting that the Quran has no myths and laughing at great myths of world’s religions or wisdom traditions – and also calling other religions myths – and not knowing how theology and art are better served by proper understanding of myths. Fundamentalism is based on gross misreading of some key myths of one’s own and other religions. Many common myths of major scriptures and certain details of Quranic myths in hadith literature have been such a problem of many modernist scholars and modernist critics of hadith. Much of wisdom literature, such traditional resources as Puranas and in fact every scripture, great art and poetry and such phenomena as Joyce and Mann abound in mythological themes that can’t be appreciated without deep understanding of myth. Failure to appreciate the point that Imam Hussain h...