ABSTRACT
One of the oldest conceptions of theology is discourse of the poets about the gods and its philosophical interpretation. Ancient Christianity took over this Greek understanding of theology and revised it only slightly to reflect its own monotheistic vision of God and of Jesus as the decisive sign of who God is for us and who we humans are and might become in the presence of God. The Christian Bible more or less expressed the mythopoetic discourse of the imaginative bards of Israel and the early Christian community and the interpretive works of Christian thinkers became Christian philosophy. At least this has been one of the standard ways of looking at Christian theology over the centuries and it provides or may provide a classic model for understanding theology and doing theology today. The Christian myth or the Christian narrative or story of God and God’s world provides the primary discourse for Christian philosophy, which functions to clarify and critically justify the ontological signification and existential significance of the Christian message in its myth. In short, the Christian myth along with its philosophical interpretation provides the Christian community with a worldview, which may be used like a map for the Christian way of life.
