True Myth
Mashing up C.S. Lewis and Fleming Rutledge on the Power of Myth
If you are like me, growing up in a Southern Baptist Fundamentalist version of the Christian Faith, any reference to anything in the Bible as myth raised a red flag. It was probably worse than that. For many, it still is.
Recently a friend sent a version of the essay, “What are We to Make of Jesus Christ?”, from God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics by C.S. Lewis. The lede, which is different than in my copy, gets the mythical ball rolling,
“Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as others, but with the tremendous difference that it really happened.”
Lewis, or to whomever the quote may be attributed, distinguishes myth from true myth. In this case we might simplify the nuance by suggesting that a myth may be powerful even if not grounded in reality. Take for instance the myths concocted about Black male slaves by Southern Slave Owners intending to strike fear in the White populations. These myths fueled Jim Crow laws aimed to keep segregation alive and well.
Adding true as a modifer to myth with regard to Jesus is to add depth to the source of the myth. No doubt Southern slave owners wanted people to believe the myths they created were true, but we now know they were not. But for Lewis the idea that Jesus followers concocted these ideas out of thin air or were fashioning well formed legends to create credibity to Jesus did not make sense.
Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are, they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not articisti enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly.
Underneath this essay one can hear Lewis’s Trilemma. Maybe you have heard it put as an apologetic question, Jesus is either Lord, Liar, or Lunatic. Of course, Lewis argues that Jesus is Lord. My friend Tripp Fuller uses Lewis’s Trilemma to open up a different way to talk about Jesus in his little book, Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic . . . or Awesome?
A true myth is awesome. And that brings me to Fleming Rutledge. Reading one of her sermons from And God Spoke to Abraham: Preaching from the Old Testament, I found this gem,
It’s generally agreed by all but the most extreme fundamentalist scholars that there should be no simplistic split between myth and history. Many people use the word myth to mean simply “something that’s not true.” But there’s a far more serious way of understanding myth. In the words of the noted philosopher Paul Ricoeur, “myth tries to get at the enigma of human existence.” . . . Myth, then, rather than being “not really true,” means the opposite: myth is charged with a special seriousness and significance. (p.34-35)
Rather than declare a truth with the sterility of an historical fact, when Christian preachers dare proclaim the Good News, aren’t we announcing a true myth, a reality :”charged with a special seriousness and significance?” A true myth in this sense requires more than memorizing apologetic talking points. Instead, it calls on us to point to the God Who Speaks, the Loquacious God, a phrase I have hard Will Willimon use when describing preaching.
What say you?
