RELS200 Critical Response Examples | Summaries Religious Studies

RELS 200 – Critical Response Examples

Example 1

In the myths presented so far, a common theme that has come up is of a test or challenge that has

to be surpassed by a human, hero, or God to create the world of humans or a particular part of it.

Overcoming these obstacles serves to prove the worthiness of the character and is often rewarded

highly, but failure has dire consequences. Genesis presents the failure of a test; the test is

presented to the first humans, Adam and Eve. They are told not to eat from the Tree of

Knowledge of good and evil, if they do, they will die (pg. 61). God creates both the tree and the

snake that tempts Eve into eating from it. God's command and actions can be interpreted as a test

(he created everything and decided to place it in the garden) for the humans to see if they would

listen to God or fall to temptation. They fail, and God punishes them for it by making humans

have to work for their food, which would be relevant to the people that lived in an agricultural

culture, and God makes childbearing painful for women (pg. 62). The Ugandan myth of creation

showcases both the fantastic rewards of completing a challenge and the catastrophic

consequences of failure. Kintu is successful and proves worthiness to Mugulu in four impossible

challenges and is gifted everything he needs to create a world but fails in the last and the simplest

of challenges (pg. 124,125,126). His failure brings death to the human world (pg. 127). Kintu's

story shows the success in various tasks is greatly gifted, but a simple mistake brings about

consequences for everyone in the human world. In the first part of the Popol Vuh, the theme

appears again. This time the challenge is the creation of humans, and The Plumed Serpent God

must complete it. They make three attempts in failure and even in their successful fourth attempt,

they must tweak with their creation once more before the Gods are rewarded with worshipers

(pg. 166, 167, 169, 174). The failure in Popol Vuh is not as catastrophic as in other myths, and

the final success of the Gods speaks to the human experience that in order to get something right,

failure is inevitable and perfection unattainable. The theme of overcoming challenges and tests is

common in many myths and speaks to the mental, spiritual and physical challenges of the human

experience, specifically those of the authors in ancient times.

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RELS 2 00 – Critical Response Examples Example 1 In the myths presented so far, a common theme that has come up is of a test or challenge that has to be surpassed by a human, hero, or God to create the world of humans or a particular part of it. Overcoming these obstacles serves to prove the worthiness of the character and is often rewarded highly, but failure has dire consequences. Genesis presents the failure of a test; the test is presented to the first humans, Adam and Eve. They are told not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, if they do, they will die (pg. 61). God creates both the tree and the snake that tempts Eve into eating from it. God's command and actions can be interpreted as a test (he created everything and decided to place it in the garden) for the humans to see if they would listen to God or fall to temptation. They fail, and God punishes them for it by making humans have to work for their food, which would be relevant to the people that lived in an agricultural culture, and God makes childbearing painful for women (pg. 62). The Ugandan myth of creation showcases both the fantastic rewards of completing a challenge and the catastrophic consequences of failure. Kintu is successful and proves worthiness to Mugulu in four impossible challenges and is gifted everything he needs to create a world but fails in the last and the simplest of challenges (pg. 124,125,126). His failure brings death to the human world (pg. 127). Kintu's story shows the success in various tasks is greatly gifted, but a simple mistake brings about consequences for everyone in the human world. In the first part of the Popol Vuh, the theme appears again. This time the challenge is the creation of humans, and The Plumed Serpent God must complete it. They make three attempts in failure and even in their successful fourth attempt, they must tweak with their creation once more before the Gods are rewarded with worshipers (pg. 166, 167, 169, 174). The failure in Popol Vuh is not as catastrophic as in other myths, and the final success of the Gods speaks to the human experience that in order to get something right, failure is inevitable and perfection unattainable. The theme of overcoming challenges and tests is common in many myths and speaks to the mental, spiritual and physical challenges of the human experience, specifically those of the authors in ancient times.

Example 2 While reading the creation stories in the text there was a common theme of how death and pain were brought into the world as it was being created. In Hesiod’s “The Creation” , he describes how heaven and earth were hated by their father and it was he who “began devising shameful acts,” (pg.35). His acts created death and harm to his sons and in this story that is how the negative side to life began. This led to his children reacting to his actions, cutting off genitals and other deadly deeds. This is similar to Adam and Eve in Genesis, when They ate from the tree, their actions went against the Lord God and he punished them by putting them on earth to suffer. The women and the man would experience much pain in their lifetimes and the ground was now cursed, (pg.62). There is much emphasis on punishment in Genesis and in ‘The Creation’ we see how actions also led to pain and suffering. In “The Deluding of Gylfi” death is a present theme, however, in this story death was a direct part of how the world was created. One of the chieftains describes how Ymir was made into the world: “from his flesh the earth, from his bones the mountains,” (pg.95). Instead of death being caused by someone’s actions, this creation story incorporates death with the making of the earth. The Popol Voh: Part one also shows how death is part of the world creation and process of it continuing to flourish. In this story the deer are told to “just let your flesh be eaten,” and therefore be sacrificed so that it can sustained other forms of life (pg.167). Both of these two creation stories use death as a path to further ai the making of the earth. On another note, the text defines how death may have come upon the earth in “The Origin of Death” narrative. This is quite different from the other creation stories because it is describing how the lizard, Agadzagadza, deceived those on earth and ultimately created death (pg.129). His lie and the ancestors laziness established death rituals for the rest of time and to this day that is why some believe people die. Death, pain, and suffering are all in correlation with the creation of the earth in different ways. It could have been created because it was a punishment, it could be a way to continue the process of creating the earth, or death itself may have been established by a simple lie.

RELS200 Critical Response Examples, Summaries of Religious Studies

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