Mýtus, biblická exegeze a teologie v katarském křesťanství

This article summarizes previous debates on the relationship between myth, biblical exegesis and theology in Catharism, and studies the different configurations of these forms of thinking in all extant Cathar texts. In the mid-20th century, the relationship was discussed mostly as a question of the origin and nature of Catharism, understood either as a continuation of Gnostic or Manichean mythology within medieval Europe, or Christian evangelical reformism based primarily on the Scripture. However, myth, biblical exegesis, and theology need not be seen as mutually exclusive, and the interpretation of larger Christian culture now acknowledges the important part myth plays in biblical exegesis and theology. In Cathar Christianity, the relationship of these forms shifts during the 13th century, just as in the larger family of 13th-century Western Christianity it belongs to, but still these forms neither contradict each other nor does one replace the other. Today the question is not which of these forms was earlier or more important in Cathar Christianity but how different extant texts interpret and enrich previous thought using these forms inherited from the wider Christian tradition.