jpwright87's review against another edition
2.0
It claims to be an anthology, but most of the selections are rewritten or interpretations of scholars just summarizing a myth. It makes it easier for the reader to understand, surely, but it takes away any ability to interpret the material on your own. The largest selections were from the Old Testament and Ovid, while lesser-known myths had only a paragraph story summary. An exception to that is that Jesus is alluded to throughout, but no actual presentation of him is in the selections other than summary. Grouping ten different cultural myths by subject, most with a page or less, in order to compare them seems interesting, but there's not a lot to work with.
The other problem I saw is that the only hermeneutic the author used was that of Jungian archetypes, mostly used to compare cultures by their being either patriarchal or matriarchal. Would this be of note? Certainly, but as an anthology book for Mythology 101 I think it narrows down all of human culture to one or fewer factors. Looking into the author's CV, it seems he has an interest in the "great goddess/earth mother" archetype, so that solves that particular question.
It's not opening up myths to be discovered/explored, but rather a limiting factor on exploration. I suppose this is a problem with most textbooks, though.
The other problem I saw is that the only hermeneutic the author used was that of Jungian archetypes, mostly used to compare cultures by their being either patriarchal or matriarchal. Would this be of note? Certainly, but as an anthology book for Mythology 101 I think it narrows down all of human culture to one or fewer factors. Looking into the author's CV, it seems he has an interest in the "great goddess/earth mother" archetype, so that solves that particular question.
It's not opening up myths to be discovered/explored, but rather a limiting factor on exploration. I suppose this is a problem with most textbooks, though.
More...