Which came first? The stories or the books?

Question

Pandora's box = The tree of knowledge
Herculese = Samson
Zeus = Jesus (yeah! Zeus)
etc.

There are several answers I'd like to pick as Best. It's a shame I can only pick one.

One of the contenders point out that equating Jesus with Zeus is moronic but when did something being moronic disqualify it from inclusion in the Good Book. I'm not takng it back because there is still the Roman aspect to consider and the stories they channeled with so many other influences during their occupation of the New Teastament location.

I'm still deciding.

Answer 1

The imagination. CS Lewis spent his entire life evaluating myths and stories. His philosophical biography is the book, PILGRIM'S REGRESS, in which Wisdom and Contemplation, the allegorical representations of philosophy, converse with "John". Through allegory Lewis describes how philosophy must not be seen as the answer to life, just merely a possible lens through which to view it. According to Lewis, the truth is not found in philosophy, but in God. "Everything is the Spirit’s imagination, and therefore everything properly understood, is good and happy." It is this that Lewis hoped to convey to the reader. Lewis writes this from experience stating in the 1943 preface to The Pilgrim’s Regress that, "I myself have been deluded by one of these false answers in turn, and have contemplated each one of them earnest enough to discover the cheat." It is this that Lewis hoped to convey to the reader.

In a review in the December 8, 1935, issue of the New York Times Book Review the critic referred to The Pilgrim’s Regress as, "A modern man’s intricate journey through the worlds of thought and feeling and desire; his passionate search for truth . . . a picture of genuine mystical experience, rationalized by philosophy."

Your observation strikes a chord...

Answer 2

Zeus and Jesus? I know Zeus is the (adoptive?) son of the great mother, but isn't that where the similarity ends? Zeus usurped her throne and broke her down into 3 different goddesses, How does that equate to Jesus? There is plenty written concerning the Virgin Mary being a form of the goddess, but I see very little correlation betw Jesus and Zeus.

Answer 3

The stories came first. To determine what the connection is -- whether a demonstrable linguistic and cultural connection, or simply parallel but independent manifestations of archetypes, is a job for hard study to decide.

But don't overreach. Zeus=Jesus is moronic, as anyone with linguistic knowledge of Greek and Aramaic will tell you. Zeus comes from Indo-European roots meaning "Sky Father" and Jesus comes from Hebrew roots meaning "Yahweh saves." No connection whatsoever.

Do some historical Jesus reading. There's plenty of stuff in the good scholarship to debunk traditional Christian theology without having to reach into the netherworld of pseudo-scholarship.

Answer 4

It is not like
"Which one came first Egg or Hen"

It is stories. Either by actual happening or by imagination the stories first evolved and it was told or spread to others and took various versions. The each version were written into books. Especially, in Mythology of any religion has different books are there for the same story.

Answer 5

Hercules would be more traced back to the son of Noah,Shem.Zeus would track back even further to Genesis 6 ,one of the giants.and of course Pandora's box is an analogy that was in the trace memory of heathen man of what happened in Eden.
Flavius Josephus states in his 1rst century writings ,that the giant (nephillim) of Genesis 6 were the source of Greek Mythological Gods.They were not gods at all but a combination of fallen angels and mixing of these angels and human women.Weird ,Huh?

Answer 6

The stories all began as oral traditions: something that happened pretty much in every civilisation around the Earth. So first it was the story; then there was the book. Except for the Hebrew tradition, which maintains that the Book came First (Torah).

Answer 7

I think the stories.we told the others about stories without any books.from imagine stories to legends,etc.book is only a mean to reserve stories for next generation and also shows the value of time of stories.

Answer 8

God came first and He told His-story (HISTORY) through prophets and scribes! Until the Sumerians people didn't write so God's words were passed from one generation to another by oral tradition!

Answer 9

I would say the stories came first b/c you need the story to write in the book!

Answer 10

stories came first thats why some books are unbeliveable they passed the stories down through word of mouth and they got distorted alog the way