Our Full Initial Proposal For the Project

Creation myths in society, Thu 3/3/2005 7:46 PM
Fellow classmates and Dr. Carr,

Haley and I will be studying the topic of creation across the social sciences and humanities. At this point, we plan to begin with a two pronged approach. First we will be exploring the idea of creation from the perspective of religion, mythology, philosophy and literature; and second we will be exploring the place of creation theory in social and political discourse. It is our hope that these strands will cross one another frequently as the religious theory adapts to outside pressures. By following this method we hope to see the development, and possibly evolution, of creation theory throughout human history. For example, the recent push to teach theories of “intelligent design” as alternatives to the theory of evolution demonstrates how the language of creation has changed in accord with the political and social climate. Thus, one clue we will be observant for is changes in the language of creation. Looking at different cultures may also uncover important clues as we compare the symbols and metaphors used by different cultures. Of course, as we pursue this study, what we discover may be different from our initial assumptions. At least at first, we will be working exclusively with the print reference collections in Davis, to avoid getting too lost in a single discipline. However, as promising patterns emerge, and as time allows, we may expand our search further. Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated. We apologize for the tardiness of our topic, but have been working towards developing a common theme to frame our study. So far, we have been determining useful terms (creationism, mythology, cosmology, cosmogony, cosmogenesis, mythosgenesis, etc.) and individual works (Encyclopedia of Religion) to begin with.

Sincerely,
Michael and Haley