|
Demythologization, a hermeneutic approach to religious texts, seeks to separate cosmological and historic claims from philosophical, ethical and theological teachings. Rudolf Bultmann introduced the term ''demythologization'' (in German, ''Entmythologisierung''),〔 Rudolf Bultmann, ''New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings'' (1984), p. 3 〕 but it has earlier precedents. == Spinoza's hermeneutic approach to Scripture == In his 1677 ''Theologico-Political Treatise'', Spinoza argues that any event in Scripture which is inconsistent with natural laws must be interpreted either as unreliable testimony or as a metaphorical or allegorical representation of a moral teaching. Because the masses are "wholly ignorant of the workings of nature",〔6:22〕 they were prone to interpret any natural event they could not explain as a miracle, and this "ridiculous way of expressing ignorance"〔6:36〕 often found its way into Scripture. Scripture aims not at narrating things in terms of their natural causes, but rather at exciting the "popular imagination" in order to "impress the minds of the masses with devotion."〔6:73〕 Therefore it speaks inaccurately of God and of events, seeing that its object is not to convince the reason, but to attract and lay hold of the imagination. If the Bible were to describe the destruction of an empire in the style of political historians, the masses would remain unstirred.〔6:85〕We must understand the opinions and judgments of the ancients and learn common "Jewish phrases and metaphors" in order to correctly interpret scripture.〔6:105〕 Otherwise we will be prone to "confound actual events with symbolical and imaginary ones."〔6:98〕 Many things are narrated in Scripture as real, and were believed to be real, which were in fact only symbolical and imaginary.〔6:98〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Demythologization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|