1. Unit 1: Communication, Meaning, and Re-membering

2. Section 4: Myth, Truth, and Re-membering

3. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Purpose of Storytelling –Teach, Educate, Inform, Explain –Instill Knowledge, Values, and Morals –Inspire –Advise, Warn –Preserve a Culture and Tradition –Entertain

4. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Storytelling Format –The Oral Tradition The spoken word combined with gestures (actions) and expressions Survived through collective memory –The Visual Tradition Drawing/Carving images and Creating pictures –The Written Tradition The development & use of symbolic language –The Performance Tradition Plays, musicals, operas, ballet

5. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Content of a Story Beginning Middle End –The order of the content of the story does not matter The Elements of the Story –Plot –Characters –Narrative point of view

6. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Types of Stories –Myths –Legends –Folktales/Fairy tales –Fables –Parables –Jokes

7. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Myths –Stories that a particular culture or religion believes to be true –Teach or Reveal the Deeper Meaning and the Eternal/Universal Truths (ritual-based, religious truths or archetypal, psychological truths) about how the World Works and Human Nature Use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity –Provides a response to the Difficult Questions of the World

8. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Examples of Myths from various Cultures and Religions From – http://www.livingmyths.com/index.htm –Greek and Roman Mythology –Egyptian Mythology –Celtic and Nordic Mythology –Chinese Mythology –Native American Mythology

9. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Examples of Myths from various Cultures and Religions –American (United States) Mythology The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross George Washington Abraham Lincoln The Frontier, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Joe Magarac The American West, cowboys Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali

10. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Themes of Myths –Creation Myths –Cult Myths –Ritual Myths –Origin Myths –Prestige Myths –Trickster Myths –Social Myths –Eschatological Myths

11. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Legend –A narrative of human actions that are believed to have taken place within the possible realm of human history and to possess certain qualities that give the story verisimilitude –Reveal a moral definition to events, provide meaning, and universality

12. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Fables –A brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson or value, which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim

13. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering Facts –An Answer to a Problem –Any part of a story that meets the requirements of literary, historical, or scientific proof –Accurate information –Actual historical people, places, and events –Achieved through argument and debate Truths –A Response to a Mystery –The part of the story that contains the deeper, symbolic meaning –Eternal or Universal in nature –Moral lesson or value –Achieved through conversation, discussion, questioning, and storytelling The Difference between Facts and Truths

14. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Bible should be considered a Truth- filled, Mythical Text –The authors were not interested in historical or scientific facts –They were interested in communicating the deeper meaning and the eternal or universal truths about the world and human nature –They help us to understand Who we are as humans How we relate to nature How we relate to the divine (GOD!!!)

15. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering The Biblical authors told Mythical Stories in order to "re-member" the past “Re-membering” – to make present again –It is not simply a memory exercise Reuniting mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually with people and events of the past To make the past “real” again in the present world –A process of becoming a member of the community in which these Biblical events happened

16. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering An example of “Re-membering” from the Christian Tradition –At Mass, during the celebration of the Eucharist, Christians do not just think about Jesus and the original apostolic community, we “re-member” Him and the Apostles (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually) In the community gathered together (the Church, the People of God) In the person of the priest who speaks the words of Jesus In the proclamation of the Scriptures (the Word of God) In the consecrated bread and wine (the Eucharist)

17. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering An example of “Re-membering” from the Christian Tradition –At Mass, during the celebration of the Eucharist, Christians do not just think about Jesus and the original apostolic community, we “re-member” Him and the Apostles (mentally, physically, and emotionally, spiritually) We re-member Jesus by recalling our own Baptism (which made us part of Christ) and by eating Communion and thereby promising to live more faithfully like Jesus, as the Body of Christ, as little Christs (the meaning of the name “Christians”)

18. Myth, Truth, and Re-membering