Mythologizing of Christianity in Russian Journalism

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Viktor M. Khroul

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Chair of Sociology of Mass Communications, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: amen@mail.ru

Section: Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

Considering the myth in the Platonic tradition as a surrogate replacement of the reasonable cause of some judgment or action, when the true cause is not under­standable due to its complexity, the author describes the phenomenology of modem myths and their functioning in the public sphere. The paper is focused on two types of mythologizing of Christianity in mass media, related to the subject of coverage — internal, doctrinal, irrational or external, social, rational. From the normative point of view epistemological function of journalism presumes the rationalization of reli­gious life coverage and “demythologizing” of socially dangerous myths related to the religious sphere.

Keywords: myth, mythology, religion, journalism, epistemological function