Amythia: Crisis in the Natural History of Western Culture
A provocative analysis of the ways our culture suffers amythia Amythia results when cosmology and morality are not effectively integrated by a root metaphor, and the only possibility for the future is to transpose the old Christian God as Person to a root metaphor that is even older in origin, the concept of the Covenant tradition inherited from Israel but now understood in a nonsupernaturalist manner. Rue asserts that amythia is a critical condition within the natural history of Western culture. The argument of the book begins with a theoretical perspective on the place of human culture within the scope of natural history and proceeds to establish the conceptual foundations for a natural history of culture. Following an overview of the natural history of Western culture to expose the origins and depth of the contemporary intellectual and moral crisis, Rue moves on to specify and justify the limits of distinctiveness and plausibility appropriate for the task of transposing Covenant tradition. Finally, an appeal is made to the mythmakers of contemporary culture to take up the challenge of amythia.
Book Details
- Publisher: University Alabama Press
- Publish Date: Oct 27th, 2004
- Pages: 224
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 8.48in - 5.98in - 0.66in - 0.71lb
- EAN: 9780817351366
- Categories: • Comparative Religion• Philosophy
About the Author
Loyal D. Rue is Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Luther College and author of By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs.
Praise for this book
"A stimulating and readable venture in the history of ideas. Blending arguments and material from philosophy, theology, history and science, Rue addresses a fundamental problem in Western Culture: the crisis of meaning and the eclipse of the shared value system upon which personal wholeness and social coherence in the West have been based."
--Journal of Interdisciplinary Discourse
--Journal of Interdisciplinary Discourse
"This fascinating, controversial work combines insights from biology, the natural history of culture, biblical study, and philosophical theology. Its thesis is that Western Culture is in crisis because it lacks a cultural mythology as a matrix for shared meanings. . . . Thoughtful and well argued."
--CHOICE
--CHOICE