Constructions of the 'feminine': the interweaving of myth and history in exemplary religious narratives
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2007
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Abstract
This thesis will be an investigation of the relationship between myth and history as it figures in religion in the construction of "feminine" types. While myth and history have been considered separate entities in much contemporary theory and scholarship, this thesis will show that this perceived separation is a relatively modern distinction and that in religion an overlap has often occurred. Such an "intertwining" of myth and history has been an integral part of hagiography and other attempts to provide exemplars or models of ideal types. Two instances of such intertwining are examined: the hagiographical text of Mary of Egypt and the Goddess as she has been presented and constructed by Carol P. Christ. This study demonstrates that in the creation and presentation of such "feminine" figures an imaginative process is employed. This imaginative process draws on elements from both history and myth in order to present a purposefully constructed figure. The work of Paul Ricoeur will be examined in order to help establish the basis of this appeal to imagination and the proposal is made that Ricoeur's hermeneutics of suspicion provides a means of understanding such an imaginative process as well as the extremes that can occur when engaged in this imaginative process.
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Bibliography: p. 99-104
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Citation
Gallant, S. M. (2007). Constructions of the 'feminine': the interweaving of myth and history in exemplary religious narratives (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1293