EQ: Why should we study Greek mythology if they are just false idols anyway?
Considering our essential question. C.S. Lewis has a pretty cool answer:
In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more -- something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves--that, though we cannot, yet these projections can enjoy in themselves that beauty, grace, and power of which Nature is the image. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can't. They tell us that "beauty born of murmuring sound" will pass into a human face; but it won't. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door.... but all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get in. (from The Weight of Glory).
Journal #6: Lewis Quote: Summarize this Lewis quote in 3-6 sentences. Then answer a few questions: How does it answer the E.Q.? What is he saying Greek stories really are? What were the Greeks actually hoping for in their own stories?
Poster Walk
- Take notes on the posters in order to prepare for a future quiz. You may put these notes in with your journals, or use this chart as a digital format. (If you use the chart, you will have to add a few more boxes at the bottom to get the ones that were added this year.)
HW: This weekend, please complete Journal #7 by listening to this podcast [It is an interview of Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series) by Sean Hemingway (Associate curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).]
Journal #7 Questions:
- What is the appeal of mythology according to Riordan? What does Hemingway mean by the "mutability" of myths? Give your own example of "mutability".
- Why did Riordan make Percy the son of Poseidon rather than Zeus?
- Give examples of the influence of Greek or Roman mytnology in the present day world.
- Why did Riordan set the first scene in his novel at the Metropolitan Museum?
- What connection does Riordan draw between Greek gods, comic book superheroes and today's teenagers?
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