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Course: Big History Project > Unit 1
Lesson 3: Origin Stories | 1.2- WATCH: Big Questions – H2
- ACTIVITY: Intro to Origin Stories
- READ: Introduction to Origin Stories
- READ: Origin Story — Modern Scientific
- READ: Origin Story — Chinese
- READ: Origin Story — Judeo-Christian
- READ: Origin Story — Iroquois
- READ: Origin Story — Mayan
- READ: Origin Story — Greek
- READ: Origin Story — Zulu
- READ: Origin Story —Efik
- READ: Cosmology and Faith
- Quiz: Origin Stories
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READ: Introduction to Origin Stories
All humans yearn to know where we came from and how our world began. We may have different stories, but they all serve a similar purpose.
Origin Stories Introduction
By Cynthia Stokes Brown
All humans yearn to know where we came from and how our world began. We may have different stories, but they all serve
a similar purpose.
Everywhere around the world people tell stories about how the Universe began and how humans came into being. Scholars, namely anthropologists and ethnologists, call these tales “creation myths” or “origin stories.” In comic-book lingo there is a specialized meaning for “origin stories.” They are accounts that relate how superheroes got their superpowers.
Some origin stories are based on real people and events, while others are based on more imaginative accounts. Origin stories can contain powerful, emotional symbols that convey profound truths, but not necessarily in a literal sense. In the United States, many people tell stories about Santa Claus. But everyone, except young children, knows that he is a symbol of love and generosity, not a person who actually exists. Many cultures
tell stories that seem strange to outsiders but have deep meaning to group members.
When people in a culture become literate, they write down their origin stories. But the stories frequently go back way before written records, to when people told them aloud. This is called an “oral tradition.” Multiple versions of each story often exist, since people — from group to group and generation to generation — may change them slightly as they retell them. I have chosen to summarize, in writing, five origin stories from
a wide number of places and eras — feel free to tell them aloud to each other.
Want to join the conversation?
- These depictions of origin stories seem to be powerful as core religious virtues. Why are these origin stories so powerful in religious belief and claims of religious origins?(1 vote)
- because, its suppose to bring comfort. we need someone to help/believe in us. yk, until the cristains hid behind "God" with THEIR wrongdoings like; enslaving people, or changing native american's names. which is very disrespectful. taking land-now i say this as the english rolled in into the "states" way waaaaaay back then.(2 votes)
- So for example, if someone were to believe that God is real but they believed the scientific explanation of how the universe was created, and not that God, a divine being created light, living organisms, the stars (including the sun), planets, moon and et cetera, would they still be a Christian?(1 vote)
- "Christian" is a title. It is based on personal interpretation, and ultimately, how they live their life. You can still embrace science alongside religious belief.
Note that questions about religion are generally not allowed.
(1 vote)