Magic in the Air: How Intellectuals Invented the Myth of a Mythless Society
Author Jason Josephson-Storm answers RD’s 10 Questions
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History Channel’s “Vikings” Subverts and Supports the Violent Heathen Trope
From Blood Eagle to Blood Libel to “Wilding,” myths of the violent Other have underwritten violence across centuries.
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What Ben Carson’s Pyramid Theory Might Say About His Foreign Policy
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s theory about the origins of the Egyptian pyramids has been…
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Picasso’s Sacred Monster Eats Chicago: A Mystery Solved?
What does this mysterious sculpture depict? Popular answers include: an aardvark, a bird, an Afghan hound, and one of Picasso’s lovers. But to my eyes, it looks like a sphinx—a monster that (like the anamorphic skull haunting Hans Holbein’s famous painting The Ambassadors) only snaps into focus when viewed from an oblique perspective. To perceive the recumbent sphinx you have to approach the piece not from the front but from behind and to the side.
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Creationism and Evolution are Competing ‘Myths’
Since a primary goal of creationist endeavors like the proposed “Ark Park” is to rally the faithful and generate group cohesion, the various faulty logic and specious claims make little impact; it provides an explanatory framework for its intended audience’s frustrations and concerns about contemporary American life.
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Red Riding Hood Arouses Man’s Inner (Were)Wolf
The wolves outside threaten the life of the city, but the wolves hidden among us may threaten the city even more. Red Riding Hood utilizes powerful mythic tropes in retelling the classic tale.
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Make Way For The Homo Superior: How I Lost One Leper Messiah, and Gained Another, Part 6
In this sixth installment of Mark Dery’s cultural critique-cum-“nonfiction novella” about a born-again teen’s encounter with Ziggy Stardust, Dery traces the religious geneaology of Bowie’s spacefaring genderbender through Jesus to Orpheus (by way of Plato) and, ultimately, to Bacchus/Dionysus.
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The Church of Man-Love: How I Lost One Leper Messiah, and Gained Another, Part 7
In this, Part 7 of Mark Dery’s cultural critique-cum-“nonfiction novella” about a teenage Jesus Freak’s life-changing encounter with Ziggy Stardust, Dery considers the ancient, orgiastic, sometimes cannibalistic roots of all rock fandom—and, for that matter, Christianity.
Read MoreThe Myth of “King David” Petraeus and Iraq
The words of our top general in Iraq—words I’ve described as myths—are those that the president says will determine his war policy.
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Sacred&Profane: Our Dirty, Lofty Election Season
Religion Dispatches′ intrepid editor-in-chief comments on the ritual of the election season…
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