{"id":35351,"date":"2024-01-30T17:34:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35351"},"modified":"2024-01-30T17:34:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:34:55","slug":"sorcerers-witches-and-zechariah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/sorcerers-witches-and-zechariah\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorcerers, Witches and Zechariah"},"content":{"rendered":"

While living among a people group who both adhered to a strict form of Islam as well as followed Africa Traditional Religion, I encountered many myths. For a while, I simply shrugged off all the stories and myths as simple stories told throughout the generations around a campfire. As one missiologist stated, “Whatever could not conform to my Western worldview did not belong to the real world and was therefore classified as merely imagination, or at best superstition.”[1]<\/a> Then, I read the book of the prophet Zechariah. It is not one of those books that gets read too often but I suggest looking back into it. There are some weird prophesies and visions in that book. One vision caught my attention. \u201cThen a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket\u201d (Zech. 5:7).[2]<\/a> The prophet goes on to say they are taking the basket to the land of Shinar. It was not the theology behind the verses but rather the myth itself that jumped out to me.<\/p>\n

There it was, in the bible of all places, a story about a woman sitting in a basket, essentially engaged in astral travel. Astral travel is defined as, \u201cThe ability to descend or ascend to the abode of the spirits or elsewhere, even distant planets”.[3]<\/a> I had heard a similar story about a sorcerer in our village who was rumored to be able to perform astral travel while in a handmade basket and would bring back artifacts from other countries. Suddenly, I realized I was at a concept threshold and our team was beginning to understand the worldview around us from a different perspective. The team I was on began to discuss the \u201crealities\u201d or at least our understanding of astral travel and the myths that went with it. Other teammates had experiences and similar stories from all over the world. A South African tribe had shaman who were said to use a rope to travel. An Eskimo group was said to use animal skins to travel. Middle Eastern stories have men flying on magic carpets from location to location. American lure has stories of old women traveling at night on a broom. All these stories have commonalities which include a person connected to the spirit world, a common household object and the ability to travel in the spirit world or in a different dimension. Yet, what is shocking about these stories is that the hail from across the entire world, from Alaska to South Africa. How is it that the mythic tales told for generations can be so similar?<\/p>\n

In this weeks\u2019 reading, Campbell essentially asks the same question at the start of his book. “Why is mythology everywhere the same, beneath its varieties of costume?”[4]<\/a> Is the common myth motif a form of common grace that Paul discusses in Romans 1:19? Did these stories originate at the Tower of Babel and then adapted to fit different cultures? Campbell details how the hero goes through common stages of development, and these are similar in different cultures and throughout time. Though I am sure there are some cultures that might have very diverse ideas and his book is not comprehensive of every culture. He does demonstrate how there is a common myth that is at the base of so many cultures.<\/p>\n

The question that I am left with is how does this affect our lives today? Campbell seems to have a similar question at the end of the book and asks how the hero myth might be affected by the modern age.[5]<\/a> Does our postmodern society really believe in the myths of old or are we developing new modern myths? I imagine some Christians might struggle with the concepts or want to argue with the author. However, I want to look at the book with an evangelistic perspective. I certainly believe that Jesus is the Truth and want to point people to the Truth of the biblical myth. Understanding the stories of other cultures helps us see what is valuable in that culture and how there can be ties to the biblical story. With Campbells\u2019 work, I feel more equipped and ready to look for the similar mythical ties that can bring cultures together and focus on the story of Jesus. For example, I have used the crazy stories of sorcerers traveling on corn baskets and compared them to the story found in Zechariah. This has allowed me the ability to open scripture and find ways that Scripture and sorcerers might share similar stories.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Philip M. Steyne, Gods Of Power: A Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Animists<\/em> (Colombia, South Carolina: Impact International Foundation, 2014), 13.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> CSB Study Bible – Christian Standard Version<\/em> (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Steyne, 126.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em>, 1. Princeton\/Bollingen paperback print., 3. print, Bollingen Series 17 (Princeton, NJ: Univ. Press, 1973), 4.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Campbell, 387.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While living among a people group who both adhered to a strict form of Islam as well as followed Africa Traditional Religion, I encountered many myths. For a while, I simply shrugged off all the stories and myths as simple stories told throughout the generations around a campfire. As one missiologist stated, “Whatever could not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[789,2967],"class_list":["post-35351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campbell","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35352,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35351\/revisions\/35352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}