Shirley Murphy

Knowing the myths helps us understand other books, words and expressions. Allusions to mythology are legion in Shakespeare, Milton, and many other authors. We are warned about another potential “Pandora’s box” in everyday speech, the newspaper, or ultius writing review . Orpheus shows up in a children’s book about a musical cricket. Even the constellations and planets sport names from Greek and Roman mythology. The New Testament is more easily comprehensible with an understanding of mythology. For example, in the book of Acts , Zeus, Hermes, Ares and Artemis are all mentioned, and Luke expects the reader to know who the gods and goddesses are. Knowing them sheds light on the people’s actions toward Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14. The fortune teller in Acts 16 had a spirit of divination (the Greek says “spirit of a python” or “spirit of Python”–a serpent Apollo killed), and she filled the role of the ancient soothsayer or oracle. At the beginning of New Testament times, most of the common people apparently still believed in the old gods, with their all-too-evident defects. These deficient divinities would have looked all the shabbier with the revealing of the God of the Gospels. Knowing something of the history of the Greek gods helps one understand the “furniture” of the ancient mind, and the life and beliefs the New Testament man was leaving. The Light of the World brought light to the abysmal darkness of the ancient world. Lastly–and perhaps this reason alone would be defense enough to justify the myths–they are great stories.