RELS 108 1st Edition GradeBuddyLecture 6Outline of Last Lecture:I. The nature of the sacredII. Sacred manifestationsOutline of Current LectureIII. Language of the sacredIV. Functions of MythCurrent Lecture:V. Language of the sacredVI. Language is complexVII. We often use language that we don’t really mean when talking about the sacredVIII. Language itself points to the sacredIX. The sacred cannot be physically graspedX. Types of languagea. Paradoxical: ex.: God is everything and nothing; “netineti” (not this, not that); expresses sacred in a paradoxb. Cataphatic: attempt to express sacred in terms of positive terminology; ex.: God is love; connecting a positive attribute with godc. Apaphatic: arrives at an understanding of the sacred by negotiation; ex.: God is NOT _____; via negativei. Apaphatic statements: neither existence nor non existence appliesto God; God is not conceptually defined in terms of space and locationXI. Myth: doesn’t mean not true; comes from Greek word mythos (speech, story, thought); word of mouth; poetic ways of telling great truths and creating sacred narrativesXII. 4 functions of mytha. Metaphysical: attempts to awaken a sense of awe before the mythical beingb. Cosmological: explanatory; ex.: seasons, life cycles; brings physical and metaphysical togetherc. Pedagogical: myth is an attempt to validate and support the social orderd. Pedagogical: myth served an educational purposeXIII. What myths do we live by today?a. Superheroes  hero’s journeyRELS 108 1st Edition XIV. Allegory: stories where various characters and instances represent real people/eventsa. Represented in literary/musical/art formb. Conveys simple messages through symbolsc. AKA an “extended metaphor”d. Plato’s allegory of the cave: describes people in a cave chained together, facing a blank wall watching shadows projected onto the wall; shadows are the closest these prisoners get to viewing reality; not actually reality; one prisoner escapes and sees the real world and comes back to tell the others who do not believe himXV. Parable: illustration, comparison, analogyXVI. Illustrates universal truth and absolute truthXVII. Concrete narrativeXVIII. “normative”  something that should be true; prescribes our