In the last blog post, we looked at what religious faith is and the variety of religions we find in the world. In this post, I want to explore some commonalities among religions. Religions tend to use the similar vehicles to transmit their beliefs and practices. These vehicles are scripture, myth, creed, liturgy, and theology.
Scripture: The word scripture comes from the Latin scriptura, the act of writing. So the scriptures of a religion generally refers to the official or holy writings of a religion. Scriptures are vehicles for the transmission of a religion in that they contain the stories, myths, rules, and liturgies of a religious community. The book of Scripture for Christianity is the Bible, which is divided into two sections, the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament and the New Testament.
Myth: Myth is one of the most misunderstood and misused words in our religious vocabulary. All too often people think that a myth is a fable, a fairy tale, or a fictional story. But a myth is a great deal more than that. Myths are fictional stories, but they are stories that are trying to explain a major religious concept. Myths are true in that, while the details of the story are not scientifically or historically accurate, they are conveying an important religious truth, usually a truth about human nature or the relationship between God and humanity. For example, in the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box, Zeus gives Pandora a box and tells her not to open it. Pandora is overwhelmed by the temptation and opens the box, letting loose all of the bad things in the world: envy, hatred, etc. However, just before everything can escape from the box, Pandora slams it shut keeping hope safe in the box. This myth is not historically or scientifically accurate, but it does try to explain, in terms that regular people can understand, how all those bad things came into the world and why hope is more important and more powerful than the bad. Let us now look at a myth from Christianity. We are all familiar with the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In the story, Adam and Eve, the first people to be created by God, are told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve, however, is tempted and eats; she then convinces Adam to eat from the tree as well. God punishes their behavior by expelling them from the Garden of Eden and by sentencing them to labor throughout their lives. What is important about this myth is not whether or not Adam, Eve, the Garden, and the tree really existed. What is important is that this story tries to explain to regular people why there is sin in the world, why people must continue to work really hard to survive, and why there are rules and punishments. These religious truths are the point of this myth, not the details that were used to get those religious truths across.
Creed: The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, which means “I believe”. A creed, then, is a statement of belief. It is an explanation or recitation of the important beliefs of a religion. The creeds of Christianity are long but careful summaries of what all Christians believe. The Apostle’s Creed was the first one to be written and the Nicene Creed is an expansion of it. Both of these creeds are very ancient; the Nicene Creed was written at the Council of Nicea in the early 4th century.
Liturgy: A liturgy is the formal and ritualized worship of a religion. Liturgies are made up of a number of ritual actions and prayers that are done in the same or a similar way every time. Liturgies allow the community to come together to celebrate their religious faith and to remind themselves of the fundamental truths of their faith. Think of the Liturgy of the Word, which is the first part of the Mass in Catholicism. At a Mass on a Sunday, the Liturgy of the Word is almost always made up of a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, a Psalm, a reading from one of the letters in the New Testament, a reading from one of the four Gospels, a homily or sermon, a recitation of the creed, and a series of community prayers. This format is the same in every Catholic Church on every Sunday of the year. It is a liturgy.
Theology: The word theology comes from two Greek words, theos (god) and logos (word or study). Therefore, the word theology means words about or study of God. Theology is not just something that is done by professionals; anyone who thinks, talks, and studies about God is a theologian. Theology is the attempt by the people of a particular religion to understand their faith better and to explain it in a way that helps others deepen their faith. In Christianity, theology means trying to understand who God is, how God is related to human beings, and what God wants human beings to do.
