Abstract:
Modern Christianity has failed to update its myths and has even eliminated them, thus,
excluding the metaphysical experience indispensable to religion (Jung). Myths should be
interpreted, not eliminated. Answering the question about how to interpret myths without
eliminating them or their intended effect is the object of this paper. The study investigates the
possibility of interpreting myths as metaphors, thus, in a non-literal way. Various definitions
of metaphor and myth, and theories for their interpretation are discussed, with focus on their
relationship to symbolic universes. Finally, a non-mythical symbolic universe structured by
root-metaphors is suggested as a framework for the existential interpretation of mythical
concepts in the New Testament.
