athene

While a minoriity of Christians believe that there was an actual person called Adam and another called Eve, and that the world was created in 7 days, the majority of Christians don't. The majority accept the spiritually symbolic importance of the stories.

However, while we freely use the terms 'symbolism' and 'parables', we shy away from the term 'mythology'.

Many religions and several of the big ones fully embrace mythology as a valid vessel for spiritual and philosophical knowledge.

However, when you accept mythology as part of your religion, you are admitting that many things aren't real. The problem is mistaking not real for not true. If Christians accepted the term, we would have to admit to a created religion, and this may seep into other areas, such as the truth of the Messiah. we can't have that, can we?

I believe that as mature Christians we should accept the term. I can manage in my mind mythology and historcal reality. For me, much of the OT is mythology and much is social history.

What we don't seem to realise is that accepting a mythological Christianity means that we open the doors to many non-Christians. Greek and Roman mythology include wrathful and jealous entities, but within the context of mythology, it is accepted by Pagans. Try to tell them that our God of love is also a god of jealousy and murder, and this is where it all breaks down.

Mythologically, we can accept this is the light and darkness of universal life.