Braniff Graduate School

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Chaos and Order in Christianity
(2023-05-10) Nino, Lucas
To illuminate the central mysteries of Christianity and its view on sacrificial love, this thesis explores the concepts of chaos and order, typically found within mythological stories, insofar as they can be applied to Christianity. I first explain the difference between modern scientific thinking and ancient mythological thinking. I then offer an analysis of mythological thinking and how it utilizes the concepts of chaos and order in order to articulate a story, communicating practical wisdom for how man should live in the world. I apply these insights to the creation accounts in Genesis to show how the concept of the image of God possesses some parallels to other mythological stories. I then turn to Christianity, demonstrating how Christianity adopts this biblical concept and transforms it with the Incarnation. To do this, I rely on the tradition of medieval Christian spirituality, as it communicates practical wisdom similar to mythological stories yet does so in an entirely transformative way as the focus is now on Christ, who situates man’s entire being in the context of a relationship of love. Thus, I aim to show how Christianity utilizes these concepts of chaos and order to provide a description of sacrificial love.