Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths (Religion & Theology Essay)

Book is Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths
Fourth Edition
General Instructions
This assignment is a comparison essay using two myths from two cultures.
You will be choosing and identifying clearly in your introduction which myths your will compare. You may certainly use any creation myth from the Creation section in the textbook you would prefer, as long as you choose at least one of the two that you had to read for this course (Ancient Greek/Ancient Hebrew). In Chapter Three you have three different myths from two works by Hesiod: Theogony (sometimes called Birth of The Gods), “Pandora,” and “The Five Ages of Man.”
For this assignment you will choose one of these myths, not everything from the chapter. You will also stick to that one myth in your analysis. So, if you choose to write about the female as a character in origin myth and you choose to write about the character of Pandora, you would not also bring material from Theogony and “The Five Ages of Man.” Clearly identify the myth you will analyze in your introduction and thesis and stick to it.
So this being a comparative assignment, you will also need to choose a myth from another culture. The one that I am assigning is Genesis. In the case of Genesis you should keep in mind that scholars consider there to be two different creation myths, back to back in the text you are reading for this course. One concerning the seven days of creation, while the second creation story features Eden and Adam and Eve.
For the sake of your introduction you can identify these as “The Seven Days” or “The Garden of Eden.” If you choose a myth other than one of these two from the textbook, this rule will also apply. You need to narrow your focus to compare one myth to one myth, not an entire chapter to an entire chapter. You do not have the time or space to do that.
So, to be clear, the prompts are designed with Ancient Greek and Ancient Hebrew myths in mind, but you can choose to write about only one of these cultures and replace one with another culture of your choosing, as long as you are clear in your introduction and thesis.
This assignment will focus on the three central concepts as your focus and tools of analysis
The second necessary part of the assignment is to make sure you use the basic concepts that I cover in the Creation Mythology presentation: The Primordial, The Rupture, Duality-multiplicity
See the information provided as well as the presentation about these concepts. No matter what theme you choose to write about, you need these concepts as the central tools in your introduction and thesis. So, for example, if you write about the way in which nature and god is presented in creation myths, comparing perhaps Theogony to “The Seven Days,” you will need to use the concepts Primordial, Rupture, and Duality in order to create your thesis. I would treat these three concepts as the three prongs of your thesis statement.
Choose a prompt or theme with which to use the three concepts to make a claim
You must choose one prompt from which to form and analytical answer from the following list of choices. In your essay, make sure that you clearly identify which prompt you are using with the corresponding letter (a. b. c. d.). You must create a thesis statement and support that statement using the notes you took on these chapters as your read them with regards to the concepts: The Primordial, The Rupture, and Duality-multiplicity. Your answers are to be your own claims supported by the notes you have taken from the primary source materials, the presentations, and PowerPoints. What do the symbols mean in these myths….in what way can you interpret them. Do not merely report literal plot without making some claim as to what the narrative means.
The Prompts
The following are the general prompts. You are selecting one of these prompts to which to respond. Keep in mind that the prompts are not questions, rather they are themes. You are to form a claim that you feel you can support from the prompt, form a thesis statement, and support your thesis statement using examples you pull from your notes. You can be as narrow, within the theme, as you feel comfortable, as long as you use the primary tools required.
The pageantry of creation
Focusing on the pageantry of creation in stages, days, generations, or degrees, focus your attention on the ways in which The Primordial is presented and how that Primordial is acted upon (The Rupture), and the progress of creation. By Pageantry, I mean the movement from the first substance into the world as humans perceive it through a series of creative stages.
The origin of the human condition and loss of the golden age
Focusing on the role of boundaries or taboos in “The Garden of Eden” and either “Pandora” or “The Five Ages of Man,” discuss how the crossing of the boundaries can be used to illustrate the arising from a rupture into the world of duality (good and evil, male and female, immortal and mortal). How does the world move from what is originally described as a more innocent world into one that is problematic and full of decisions and struggles.
The role of the women
Pandora and Eve are both seen as the origin of human complicated experience and/or knowledge of the world. In this sense they both can be understood as participating in some way with The Rupture from the original state of humanity in their respective cultures. Using the idea of knowledge bringing change, discuss how you understand this rupture in terms of the female characters. Remember, this isn’t about comparing literal stories and it isn’t a place to discuss preciously held cultural biases, it is a place to think about the stories afresh and analyze and interpret.
The role of nature
Using any of the mentioned myths from two contrasting cultures, please form a thesis that focuses on what the contrasts with regards to nature are. How is nature understood and presented differently? Is nature the source of divinity or is it somehow different than divinity?
Specific requirements:
You are only writing a response to one of the prompts. You get to choose. Make sure you tell me by letter to which of the prompts you will respond. Your answer has to be a minimum of 2.5 pages double-spaced. This DOES NOT include the MLA citation. Maximum 3.5 pages.
You must identify the primary sources you use with MLA citation. In your answers you will place the page numbers, with summary and/or quotes that refer to the notes you took during the lead up to this assignment as support of your thesis. This in-text citation will refer me to an MLA citation at the end of your questions. Please feel free use my presentations, just mention where the idea came from and you are good. Just use the name, like as mentioned in the Creation Mythology presentation, for example. Cite the books properly. Remember that proper citation means that you cite in the text. The Work Cited is merely a record of material cited in the text.
If you meet the minimum requirement (which is all of the above) to the best of your ability, once you get your graded assignment back you may edit and fix your answers to get a better grade. If you do not meet the minimum requirement, you will not get this opportunity. Contact me in person if you decide this is something you want to do.