Compiling and critiquing modern theories and theorists of myth, this book offers an overview of theories around the origin and function of various mythologies and mythological figures, allowing wider theoretical claims to be made about the relationship between societies and their myths.

Robert A. Segal is Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, UK. He came to the UK from his native United States in 1994. He has taught at Lancaster University, and since 2006 at Aberdeen. He teaches and writes on theories of myth, on theories of religion, and on Gnosticism. Among the books he has written or edited are The Poimandres as Myth (1986), Joseph Campbell (revised 1990), The Gnostic Jung (1992), Jung on Mythology (1998), The Myth and Ritual Theory (1998), Theorizing about Myth (1999), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion (Second Ed. 2020), and Myth: A Very Short Introduction (revised 2015). He is a member of the editorial board of Religion and a series editor for Routledge's 'Theorists of Myth' book series.

Introduction: In Defense of Theorizing about Myth 1 The Leading Modern Theories of Myth 2 Psychologizing Myth: From Freud to Winnicott 3 Rank on Myth 4 Freud's and Jung's Very Twentieth-Century View of Myth 5 Greek Myth and Psychoanalysis 6 On Hero Myths 7 King Saul as Mythic Hero 8 Myth and Science: Their Varying Relationships 9 On Myth as Ideology: Lincoln's Theorizing Myth 10 On Myth and Politics 11 Do Hollywood Stars Bring Myth Back to the World? 12 Does the Gaia Hypotheses bring Myth Back to the World?