Greek Worldview

Today I will be attempting to define the Greek worldview using Trumbo's 4 fundamental questions, so I will go through each question, and end up with a final definition... hopefully.

1. Who am I?
According to Greek mythology, the Greeks were the fifth try to make man. It started with the "Golden Age." These first age of men were care free  and almost always happy. They lasted until Promethius angered Zeus, and Zeus, son of Kronos, made Pandora. with the jar opened, and disease and pain and a ton of other horrible stuff came out, the golden age ended. Next was the "Silver Age." these were a lower class of the "Golden Age", and they often argued ,stole from one another, and didn't worship the gods. Zeus, realizing that they would never change their ways, covered up this catastrophic creation, and made the next age of men, the "Bronze Age." These men were even worse, always declaring war on one another. Zeus didn't have to fix this, for they fought until none were left alive. Next were the heroes ( demi-gods), and we finally get to the "Iron Age." These men worshipped the gods, and learned to live with one another as best as possible. Sure they were imperfect, but they didn't do horrible. Zeus left these men and they have evolved to the place in which we live today.

2. Why am I here?
as seen in the last chapter, the humans were left to do whatever. as long as they respected and worshipped the gods, so I guess you can say that the Greeks were here to please the gods.

3. What are the gods like?
If we look at them, we see immoral people with super powers, but if we want to see the Greeks' worldview, we need to think similarly to the Greeks. I'd say that although some of the things that the gods did were questionable, to the Greeks they were created by these gods, and therefore were inclined to serve them as best as they could. as long as the gods were happy with the human race, the human race could live in peace.

4. What is truth?
According to the Greeks, the truth was whatever the gods said. If the gods said they could do immoral things, but the humans couldn't, then they couldn't question it, or else they would be in big trouble. this meant that they were probably constantly trying to see what the gods wanted from them next.

Now that we have all of our facts, we can form a working worldview. So the Greeks were a fifth try to  make man created to worship the gods, and had to do whatever the gods told the to do or not do no matter if the gods did or didn't do it. Other than that, they could do whatever they wanted, and count on the gods to help them if they had no idea what to do with their lives. That's it in a nutshell. Hope to post again soon

-Daran

Aetiological Myth

I am now asked to Define and provide an example of an aetiological myth. According to my Trumbo (a book given to me by my instructor) this type of myth is one is a story that explains something that we observe in nature. I's say that something such as the muses in the first paragraph of page three of the Theogony would be a great example of this type of myth. the muses inspire writers, poets, etc. to write about the gods in Greek culture. In the Theogony, these muses inspire Hesiod to write beautiful poems about the gods, namely Zeus.

Intro to Mythology

Today we started Mythology in my class, and I have been asked to blog about three more questions. The questions I will be attempting to answer are "What are the most significant contrasts between ancient worldviews in modern Western worldviews?, How can understanding a culture's basic worldview help us better understand or interpret its history?, and how would I define mythology?" So here are my answers to these questions.

There are many contrasts between ancient and modern worldviews, so I will try to only hit the highlights. One of the largest differences is the time and technology difference. Today people think they are their own creation or that they craft their own stories, but in more ancient times people served "gods" and some devoted their entire lives just trying to please their "gods." People back then knew there was a God, but simply went with the religion that they grew up with, but today people are beginning to wonder if their even is a God, and if there is one, does He care about the people on Earth. Another difference is that people back then did not worry about things like Twitter, Facebook, or the latest way to have "friends", or any other technology for that matter. Because they didn't have to worry about their image, People could spend more time on what they loved to do. These are the two largest differences between these two worldviews to my knowledge. I know there are many other differences, but I believe these two sums all of the major differences.

This next question is a fairly simple and straightforward one to answer. The cultures basic worldview will help put things into perspective when you read about what they do throughout history.

The last one is a bit more complicated, so I'll try not to make my view on mythology too lengthy. Mythology can be taken two different ways; ancient myths, and modern myths. I'll start by describing ancient myths. Ancient myths deals more with a culture's beliefs about a certain religion. The best example of this is arguably Greek mythology. Almost everyone has heard of Greek mythology at one point in time, and therefor its is known as mythology because it is widely known and no one thinks it true. The other is modern mythology. This mythology is more of ideas that are told that are thought to be true, but aren't proven. The best example I can think of is that you have to wait 30 minutes before swimming if you have just eaten.

I have done my best to answer these 3 questions, and I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog

-Daran

The Maker Dared to Create

In class today we read Genesis 1-3 and I was presented with the three questions based on the context "what is the character of God portrayed in this document?", "what is the process through which he create, and what does that process suggest about the divine nature?", and "how is man formed, and what does the forming of man suggest about the Hebrew understanding of human nature?". Today I will attempt to answer these three Questions. I will also be answering a bonus question, so be sure to keep reading if you are interested.

The character of God at this point of time is reflected through his creation, just as a painting reflects the painter. In the first chapter, God made all of creation, and that shows that he is a very creative God. He put every star that you see in the sky just for you to enjoy at night. Talk about over doing it a little bit. This shows that God is not only creative, but has set the example for us that we should do every task to the best of our abilities as he did.

Next is the process through which he made everything. The process he used was to go from General to specific. First he made light and dark, and then he made the sun, then moon, then each and every star. He made sea and air, then he filled it with all sorts of life. He made ground, and then made plants and animals. Now that he has made everything, he now must make the most specific of all, man. With man, he did not merely speak us into existence, but hand crafted us. So he makes a body, and then fills it with each thing in which it needs.

Many people have ideas on how man was created, but none are as true and honest as this. After God created everything else he said, "Let us make man in our own image,..."(1:26b). He then went down to the earth and shaped it into the body of the first man. And when he finished, He breathed his breath of life into the nostrils of Adam. This form suggests that when Hebrews came later on that they believed that they were formed in God's likeness, and that they were set apart from the rest of creation.

The bonus question is "How would I characterize the Hebrew worldview based on Genesis 1-3.

This seems similar to the last question, but is more about all of creation. With their creator in mind, the Hebrew overview would be that they learn everything from their Creator and study what they can about the world in which God put them in.

I have done my best to answer all four of these questions, and now have hit the end of this post. I hope to make more posts in the near future.

-Daran

Summary of how to read a document

When reading a document, there are three levels of its analysis. Level one is dealing with the perspective that the document was intended for. Questions like "Who Wrote this document?, who was the intended audience?, and what is the story line?"are all questions that we need to ask in level one of our analysis. Level two deals with the purpose of the document. You should ask questions like "Why was this document written?, what type of document is this?, and what are the basic assumptions made in tis document?" Level three deals with what can be taken away from this document. The questions that need answering for this level is "can I believe this document?, what can I learn about the society that produced this document?, and what does this document mean to me?"

A Daring Feat

This blog is named as it is because I will be making posts on daring feats. I will also probably making other miscelaneous posts, so don't be surprised if they are all not about daring feats. Hope to make another post soon.