Religious Studies: Establish a Distinction Between the Popular Misuses

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Exam Essay
Establish a distinction between the popular misuses of the term "myth" and its meaning in the scholarly context of Religious Studies. Explain the functions of myth according to the scholar Joseph Campbell.
Myths are used to connect human relationships and their surroundings to explain how certain things fit in the world. Religious studies focus on mythology while theology focuses on studying the supernatural explanations. Since myths contain complex stories there are both facts and fictional elements. People may adhere to certain myths because of the cultural practices, but in religious studies the study of mythology is associated with explanation of the supernatural or scared in the world, and inform the believers how the cosmos came into existence. This differs from the view that the myth means something being untrue, and this viewpoint ignores the link between myth and mythology. Myths also help people to identify ...