What does the RCC say about the Great Flood described in the Bible?

[gtar100]

25. I would go with "myth" even though it is often associated with "not true" in English.

Myth has a meaning that is much more than just the common usage of the word. Myth is a category of stories that generally mean they are stories that come from our prehistory and implies there is meaning beyond the surface story. There are many cultures of the past with flood myths. And they all reflect the characteristics of the culture from which they come. My impression of the bishops' statement, however, is that they are dancing around the subject. As if they don't want to offend anyone, neither literalist nor metaphoralist (I made that last word up... I think).

On top of that, I think their statement is a little more than condescending and dismissive of many good, intelligent people who have lived on this earth prior to European Christianity and its influence. For example,

“simple and metaphorical language adapted to the mentality of a people but little cultured, both state the principal truths which are fundamental for our salvation, and also give a popular description of the origin of the human race and the chosen people”

"the mentality of a people but little cultured".... How many ways can one say "snob". And what does popularity have to do with it... oh, those simple-minded peasants.

The best term is creation-flood story. Ancient Near Eastern thinkers did not have our methods of exploring serious questions.

Someone's been spending too much time in their monastery. What "methods" are they referring to? Egyptian history fully confirms humans have explored "serious questions" long before the Catholic Church sprang into being. Summerians too would beg to differ. More examples abound but the point being that there is an air of superiority in the bishops' statement that borders on racism and detracts from the basic message that they gave which is stated at the end.

Though the stories may initially strike us as primitive and naive, they are in fact told with skill, compression, and subtlety. They provide profound answers to perennial questions about God and human beings.

I think that is a decent description of myth and its purpose from a Christian perspective.