Mythstory

We probably won't get to discuss Lewis's essay "Myth Became Fact," but I feel as though it is absolutely worth a blog post, at least.  It was incredible.

I feel as though, by way of explanation, I should share a piece of my own story.  I grew up in the church knowing that the Bible was important, that Bible stories actually happened, and that God's Word was something necessary on a daily basis.  However, all that information never became passion.  I didn't follow a daily devotion regimen, I never really meditated on God's Word, I never hungered and burned to read my Bible.  Two summers ago, before beginning my freshman year here, I attended a conference in Chicago called MERGE.  MERGE goes through the whole Bible in 6 days, condensing and repackaging the Bible into 7 episodes that demonstrate the story-arc of the Bible as a whole.  I fell in love.  I've always loved reading, always loved movies, always loved stories.  Now, the Bible was a story, and it finally made sense to me.

Lewis's argues that Christianity's dependence on the myth of the Bible is its key component, as opposed to the doctrines that intellectuals and theologians propose as core.  Some people, e.g. everyone in my church, would be shocked to hear the Bible referred to as mere myth.  Nasty e-mails, caustic discussions at prayer groups, and threats of excommunication would erupt should I come forward as believing the Bible to be myth.  However, I think it fits.  If you look at any other culture's religion, it will be surrounded by fantastic folklore that literature has titled "myth."  But not the Bible.  Similar elements, language, and imagery is used, but the Bible is not to be considered myth.  

The beauty and power of our mythology is that it actually happened.  Our myth is history; our history is myth (hence this blog being titled "mythstory."  You see what I did?  I combined the two words...)  How incredible is that????  Consider the outrageous events of Greek mythology, or the calamitous stories in Norse mythology.  They're great stories.  They inspire, instruct, elate, but they never happened.  Ours Did!  I agree entirely with Lewis when he says: "God is more than a god, not less; Christ is more than Balder, not less.  We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology" (p. 67).  Instead, I revel in it.