Story Lab: Crash Course Myth Videos

For this assignment, I watched the three Overview of Mythology videos from Crash Course on Youtube. 

In the first video, I found it interesting how the Crash Course teacher described the study of mythology as drawing upon elements from many different fields including religion, literature, anthropology, and history. He then goes on to note that in mythology readers will often encounter several different versions of the same story and also several different interpretations of certain stories.  Defining the term "myth" can be quite difficult, which is discussed at length in the video. Crash Course decides to define a "myth" as a story having "significance" and "staying power." Finally, the teacher points out that there are several different theories involving the academic study of myths.

In the second video, the teacher describes different theoretical approaches to mythology and ways of analyzing myths. He mentions that the critical analysis of myths has been going on since about the mid 500s BCE! Some early thinkers (including Plato) conceptualized myths as falsehoods. Some early Christian leaders latched on to this idea and fit it into their religious views. Others thought of myths as simply a form of primitive science, which seems to be much too narrow of a definition. The teacher then goes on to tell us that mythology as a study didn't began to really grow until the 18th and 19th centuries. Many modern anthropologists attempt to connect myths to the lived experiences of humans in unique cultures. Some psychologists have seen myths as human projections of the unconscious. Other modern scholars tend to look at myths by focusing on their structures. 

The final video covered heroes and the hero's journey. Heroes are included in the myths of almost all societies, and "hero" can be a hard term to even define. The Crash Course teacher discusses scholar Joseph Campbell's theory of "The Hero's Journey" and it's notable influence on the field of mythology. One of Campbell's central ideas involves the notion that heroes can tell us a lot about ourselves.

I really enjoyed learning more about mythology, defining myths, theories of mythology, and the concept of a "hero" from these videos!

Public domain image by Wikimedia user "Salamander724"

Source: Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Gospel of Mark, Part B

For this section of the reading unit on the Gospel of Mark, I'll be focusing on beautiful sentences and language use.

The first sentence that stuck out was a short teaching of Jesus: "And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, "Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me." I really enjoyed the way Jesus
(via Mark) frames this lesson. The idea of receiving Christ was somewhat mystical in nature, and the emphasis on children highlighted to me the value Christ is consistently placing in this Gospel on the members of society who don't have power or are most easily oppressed. I would like to use language that provokes a sense of curiosity and mysticism in my own story writing.

Shortly after, Jesus speaks again on children in another teaching: "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." To me, this teaching seems to promote the simple sense of joy and wonder that children tend to have in contrast with the jaded, hard-hearted worldview that many adults seem to operate with. Regardless of its full and accurate meaning, the sentence worked well in the context of the reading. These teachings of Jesus sometimes buck against the prevailing attitudes of society, both then and now.

Another teaching later in the unit again suggests that Jesus was not impressed with wealth or those in society who are powerful. After a man refuses to give up his possessions to follow Jesus, Jesus laments to his disciples "How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." This metaphor is vivid and makes the point well. Perhaps if I retold some of Christ's parables and restyled some of His teachings for my storytelling exercise this week, I could incorporate modern versions of these stories and metaphors. I would aim to make the metaphors vivid and strong like the ones found in Mark, just perhaps more relevant to modern audiences.

I've really enjoyed reading the Gospel of Mark!

IMAGE: The Death of Jesus by
artist James Tissot, sometime
between 1886 and 1894.
Source: Wikimedia















Bibliography: Readings from the Gospel of Mark unit in the UN-Textbook. Story source: King James Bible (1611).

Reading Notes: Gospel of Mark, Part A

This week my reading is the Gospel of Mark! I will be using the notetaking style "focus on one character," and focus on the character of Jesus Christ.

The first words we here Jesus speak, following his baptism and subsequent temptation, are "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Jesus then begins recruiting people in the area to follow him, and they immediately drop what they are doing to do so. The author of Mark must be portraying Jesus as very compelling or charismatic to be that convincing to strangers. Christ then teaches with "authority" and proceeds to cast an "unclean spirit" out of a man there in the synagogue. He sure has a lot of impressive skills in this first section! He then heals a woman, again adding to what we know of his robust set of skills/attributes. Jesus then goes off to pray by himself, and I found this need for solitude after accomplishing a lot to be relatable.

As another person presents himself to be healed by Jesus, Jesus is "moved with compassion" before healing the man. This adds an emotional component to his character. Christ then tells the healed man to "See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way" which is a bit mysterious. In a subsequent story, Jesus forgives a person's sins before healing them. This seems to imply that Jesus has something of a divine nature. He then eats "with publicans and sinners" which seems to make our protagonist a pretty inclusive, non-judgmental guy. In these sections, Jesus teaches in a mix of clever short stories and memorable short lines of wisdom. I really enjoy his manner of speaking. 

Certain religious officials, the Pharisees, keep following Jesus around and accusing him of things and he always has a solid, wise (though sometimes a bit confusing) answer. He then tells a series of longer parables on subjects like the kingdom of God. Jesus gets on a boat and it starts storming. He then makes the storm stop with just words which is pretty awesome. Later, he sends his 12 core followers out to preach and gives them the power to also heal people.

Jesus feeds a large crowd by turning a little bit of food into a lot of food, which is an awesome and practical miracle. He then walks on water towards a boat that his disciples are in, a famous miracle that again shows his great power. I really appreciated the line of teaching towards the end of the reading for today where Jesus says "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?". The final section of today's portion recounts the miracle of Christ's transfiguration, which is a mystical and somewhat strange miracle. 

     Jesus and Minas Coptic icon, from the 6th or 7th century.

     Artist unknown. Source: Wikimedia

Bibliography: Readings from the Gospel of Mark unit in the UN-Textbook. Story source: King James Bible (1611).