Quote:
Originally Posted by zeek
The human spirit doesn't explain the use of typology, allegory, analogy, and metaphor in the Bible. The theory of archetypes does. Jesus fulfilled, sometimes paradoxically, the messianic expectation of Judaism. The messiah is a sub-category of the hero archetype which is found throughout world mythology. The hero-savior-messiah obviously fills a deep seated universal human need.
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First of all, the discussion was quite specific and focused on what mechanism is operating that a person's life in the OT would be a type of Christ. I was not discussing allegory, analogy or metaphor.
Second, I am well aware of the theory of "The Messiah" as an archetype which is found throughout mythology.
The question I raised was how is it that the life of a man like Joseph, who lived long before Jesus did be such a precise type of Christ? And I do not believe that Joseph and all of the other characters involved in his life were creative fiction, rather I believe the OT is a fair representation of history. That is my belief, you are free to believe what you will.
I am well aware of how mythology, not just ancient, but especially recent comic books, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. use these archetypes, resurrection, salvation, messiah, "chosen one", etc. If you would like to start a thread on that, believe me, I would have a lot to say, but I am not sure it would be on topic for this forum.
But I do not view the OT as mythology, sorry. I find it very misleading to try and characterize the OT as Mythology when that term is equated with fantasy, regardless of how one tries to bend the definition. There is no reason why one wouldn't use the term history other than to imply that it is not in fact an accurate history. I do not view prophecies of the Messiah as a work of fiction, nor do I consider the stories of David, or Joseph, or Moses etc are fiction. There was no OT writer who was using an archetype to fashion or mold his stories, in my opinion.
So the question was, by what mechanism does Joseph have these dreams, these experiences, this life, that becomes such a beautiful type of Christ, even to the experience of his bones after death? Ultimately I believe that it is probably something akin to a shadow. So Christ is the reality, and many of these lives are merely shadows of this reality, which is why they look so much like the reality.
Instead I would argue that the use of Archetypes by all of these fiction writers is a demonstration of what Paul said "Every knee shall bow at that great name". Why do all of these stories have to use resurrection? Because there is no greater story. Why do they talk of redemption and sacrificing oneself to save others, because Jesus has been given the highest name. Jesus did not get that name by following the Fiction writers formula for a masterpiece. He got that because He worshipped God in spirit and reality.