Thursday, October 25, 2012

Creation Myths

The Deus Faber creation myth or “The Maker God” is a classification for the Myan creation myth of Popul Vuh.The Deus Faber myth is a creation myth where the diety creates mankind in a craftsmanlike way. The myth of Popul Vuh describes a dual creator that goes through three attempts to create man. First, they create man out of clay but when the rain comes they are washed away. In their second attempt they create man out of wood but the men have no mind and no hearts so they wiped them out with a flood. The Maker then decided to grind corn and gave it shape in human form. But these humans were too perfect and were able to see into the heavens, so the maker decides to unmake the first men a little by impairing their eye sight and their understanding. Thus creating man. The Popul Vuh myth is very intricate and complex which is what makes it a great myth to fall under the Deus Faber category.
The most common creation myth we come across is that of Ex Nihilo which means “Out of Nothing”). This myth can best uncover the Hebrew myth of Genesis. This is a very well  known myth because it is interpreted through many religions, a couple being the Islamic, Christian, Catholic, and Jewish faiths. The Genesis myth categorizes with the Ex Nihilo because the story starts out with God creating the universe merely by “speaking into existence” (43). The way that God creates mankind in the Genesis myth can be also categorized as a Deus faber myth because God creates Adam out of the dust portraying his creation as a craftsmanship.