Parallel Myths

My book is called Parallel Myths, by J. F. Bierlein. It begins by giving an introduction to myth and why it was as important for its worshipers as it is for us today. Then, it paraphrases myths from cultures across the world, including Christian, Hebrew, Greek, African, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Norse, Hawaiian, Egyptian, Aztec, etc. It contains a huge variety of cultures, but it is astounding to see how many commonalities there are between them all. The myths are separated into sections such as ‘Beginnings- The Creation Myths’,  ‘The Flood Myths’, ‘Some Brief Myths of the Hero’, and ‘The End- Visions of the Apocalypse’. My favorite section may have been ‘Four Parallel Stories’ which is ingeniously titled after four very similar myths from Blackfoot Indian, Egyptian, Greek, and Genesis.

What I really like about reading this book is that I get to compare cultures in a way we never have in a class. Generally in social studies classes we only study one culture at a time, whereas in reading my book, I can learn about five different cultures in only three pages. I enjoy being able to compare and contrast their belief systems, which really speak to the influence of the community’s environment and the setup of its social structure.

I still want to look at myths about the sky and celestial concepts, however now I know more about earth myths and want to include more about the formation of the earth and what they believe the earth to be like. I want to compare sun and moon gods in different cultures, since almost every polynomic culture has one, or at least has a myth about how the sun and moon got there. I also might include constellations and what meaning they have in different cultures. I haven’t found a book yet so if anybody has any suggestions they would be more than welcome!