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Justin Smetters 1-29-04 ISSI402 Prof. Sienkewicz
Comparing Myth hymns to Religious Prayers The Assignment was to Compare Cleanthes' hymn to a prayer which is important to you personally. I do not have a prayer that is important to me personally. I was baptized as a Lutheran, but I no longer think of myself as belonging to an organized religion, because I don’t go to church, and I haven’t read much of the bible. However, I shall compare and contrast Cleanthes’ Zeus hymn and the benediction that I sing in Chorale “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Peter Lutkin based on Psalm 67. First, at the very base, the Cleanthes’ hymn and Lutkin’s song deals with some form of a god. Cleanthes’ hymn is to the king of gods, Zeus, while “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” deals with the monotheist deity of the Christian faith. One asks to protect them from evil and ask for forgiveness, while the other asks for peace and grace. They both acknowledge that the gods in each are the rulers of their domain or kingdom (though they are both done in some sort of prayer). It seems that the Cleanthes’ hymn deals with these issues or thoughts more in depth. Lutkin’s song ask for blessing and peace while the Cleanthes’ hymn points out specific problems humans face: …they are senselessly driven to one evil after another:/ some are eager for fame, no matter how godlessly it is acquired/ others are set on making money without any orderly principles in their lives/ and others are bent on ease and on the pleasures and delights of the body. Cleanthes’ hymn is saying is that the temptation of power, money, and sex makes people the way they are. Cleanthes hints that these things get in the way of worshipping Zeus. In a way, this is spiritual blockade which hinders spiritual progress sort of like the seven deadly sins in Christianity. Power, money and sex in the quotation above could be looked at as envy, greed, and lust. Cleanthes’ hymn is asking to help misguided souls:
O Zeus, giver of all, shrouded in dark
clouds and holding the vivid bright lightning/ rescue men from painful
ignorance./ Scatter that ignorance far from their hearts./ and deign to
rule all things in justice/ so that, honored in this way, we may render
honor to you in return/ and sing your deeds unceasingly, as befits
mortals;
“The Lord Bless You and Keep You” simple ask for peace. Not mentioning from who or from what just peace in general. At the very roots, the hymn and the prayer ask for the same thing. They both ask to save the fallen and protect us from an evil fate, even though Lutkin’s song is much more subtle about it than Cleanthes’ hymn. At the very heart, these religious traditions are very similar. They both assume that these Gods are looking down on them whiling to help. And they both ask for god to shield them from evil somehow, even though one is implied and the other is straight forward.
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