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Table of Contents: Invitation to myth: Introduction --
Cast of characters --
Myths: Beginnings-Creation myths --
Earliest times --
Flood myths --
Tales of love --
Morality tales from the myths --
Four parallel stories --
Some brief myths of the hero --
Journey to the underworld and the path of death --
End-Visions of the apocalypse --
Modern readings of myth: Views of myth and meaning --
Parallel myths and ways of interpreting them --
Myth-Yours, mine, and ours.
Location: COLLECTION: Ancient & Primal Religions -- SECTION: Myth & Mythology / Filing name: Bierlein
Topics: In TinyCat -- See "Tags" above for our libraries topic areas. See "Subjects" below for LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) (note you can tour our library via Tags or LCSH, but LCHS are not available for all items in our holdings).
FY2013 /
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"Unusually accessible and useful . . . An eye-opener to readers into the universality and importance of myth in human history and culture."--William E. Paden, Chair, Department of Religion, University of Vermont For as long as human beings have had language, they have had myths. Mythology is our earliest form of literary expression and the foundation of all history and morality. Now, in Parallel Myths, classical scholar J. F. Bierlein gathers the key myths from all of the world's major traditions and reveals their common themes, images, and meanings. Parallel Myths introduces us to the star players in the world's great myths--not only the twelve Olympians of Greek mythology, but the stern Norse Pantheon, the mysterious gods of India, the Egyptian Ennead, and the powerful deities of Native Americans, the Chinese, and the various cultures of Africa and Oceania. Juxtaposing the most potent stories and symbols from each tradition, Bierlein explores the parallels in such key topics as creation myths, flood myths, tales of love, morality myths, underworld myths, and visions of the Apocalypse. Drawing on the work of Joseph Campbell, Mircea Eliade, Carl Jung, Karl Jaspers, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and others, Bierlein also contemplates what myths mean, how to identify and interpret the parallels in myths, and how mythology has influenced twentieth-century psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and literary studies. "A first-class introduction to mythology . . . Written with great clarity and sensitivity."--John G. Selby, Associate Professor, Roanoke College… (more)
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