Chapter 16: Symbolism - Religion and Culture
The
importance of symbols in the realm of religions goes far back into
human history, sometimes the meaning of a symbol changing from its
original representation and design. This occurred more noticeably
during the transition between paganism and Christianity in the
western ancient world. The early Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church
established traditional symbolism, as they did in matters of doctrine
and the canonical scriptures that comprised the Christian Bible with
two sections, the Old Testament representing the borrowed text from
Hebrew origin concerning the concept of monotheism.
Due
to their hieroglyphic writing, symbolism was key to ancient Egypt's
religion and culture, its mystical properties carried through to
modern times through Gothic fictional tales of horror.
