Colin Curtis "Myth Became Fact" Blog 1

In CS Lewis' essay "Myth Became Fact" he makes a brilliant defense against a claim by a man named
Corineus who claimed that Christians today are merely nominal by nature, and have dropped the "barbaric" doctrines that true Christians have held in the past. I appreciated the fact that in his defense of this claim, Lewis chose to analyze the similarities and differences of myths and facts, and how in Christianity, myth became fact when Jesus died on the cross and then rose again, three days later. For this blog post, I selected a few excerpts from the essay, and will offer my analysis on the writing and points being made.

"Obstinacies of this sort are interesting. 'Why not cut the cord?' asks Corineus. 'Everything would be much easier if you would free your thought from this vestigial mythology. To be sure: far easier."

Corineus is not making a revolutionary or original argument here. I believe he's assaulting true Christianity because he doesn't fully understand true Christianity. Biblical Christianity isn't supposed to be easy. Jesus never promised lives of comfort, security, or convenience to the people who decided to follow him. He said that "In this world you will have trouble," (John 16:33) and "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (John 15:18) Therefore, if Corineus is looking for a watered down, prosperity-centered theology, he won't find it in true Christianity. It's just a shame that he wasn't alive to hear a Joel Osteen sermon. They would have gotten along splendidly. 


"Corineus wants us to move with the times. Now, we know where times move. They move away. But in religion we find something that does not move away. It is what Corineus calls the myth, that abides; it is what he calls the modern and living thought that moves away."

I absolutely agree with Lewis on this point, and scripture backs him up. Hebrews 13:8 says that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever," and having the mindset that Corineus did of wanting the constant ebb and flow of secular culture to shape our worldview and theology is a dangerous one. Even throughout my limited ministry experience, one of the most dangerous things I've seen is when people have their beliefs and then look to particular passages of the Bible to back it up, instead of letting the Bible as a whole define and dictate their beliefs.

 "The myth (to speak his language) has outlived the thoughts of all its defenders and of all its adversaries. It is the myth that gives life"

I just loved this sentence. Christianity has survived and thrived against unspeakable odds in places all over the world, and yet it still remains to be the myth (and fact) that gives so many people "abundant life." (John 10:10)


 "When we translate we get abstraction -- or rather, dozens of abstractions. What flows into you from the myth is not truth but reality (truth is always about something, but reality is that about which truth is), and, therefore, every myth becomes the father of innumerable truths on the abstract level"

I appreciate the fact that Lewis made a distinction between truth and reality here. I don't necessarily agree with this concept, but it certainly made me pause and reflect for awhile. The only way I can seem to grasp it is by realizing that we can't conjure up images of reality. Reality just is; it's all we know. However, we can absolutely focus in on certain unavoidable truths.

 

'By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle."

This seems to be Lewis' main point, that myth and fact are indeed intertwined. I remember from a class long ago that the common understanding of myth, as humans see it today, is a made up story of sorts, sometimes with a moral lesson involved. But this greater, more accurate definition of myth involves truth and fact, which makes Christianity the greatest myth of all time.

"A man who disbelieved the Christian story as fact but continually fed on it as myth would, perhaps, be more spiritually alive than one who assented and did not think much about it."

This is my only real disagreement with Lewis' essay. I believe that both men in this scenario would be "spiritually dead," simply because there are no levels of spiritual life, at least not in the Biblical sense. You are either alive, and made new in Christ, or dead, and separated from God. There is no middle ground, which seems to be both of these men in this scenario. Overall though, I found this to be a brilliant and interesting essay. 


 

Moral Imperative of Story

Moral Imperative of Story

Personal Choice

August 28, 2016

Story is the natural way in which our minds process the seemingly disparate experiences in life. The only story we know is that which comes to us through our own consciousness. Because of this the human mind is naturally inclined to place itself as the protagonist of everything it experiences. It is not until we are exposed to other stories that we can get a perspective of our life other than our own. When confronted with new stories our minds project ourselves into the plot, emotions, and relationships within a new narrative, with which we can powerfully associate. Whether factual or not, stories cut to the heart, speaking to the spirit within. 

Without external exposure to other stories, an individual or community becomes stuck in it’s own small story. Historically, to be stagnant in one story has led to all kinds of evil. The Nazi story of Arian supremacy and the Communist story of a divine leader are dramatic examples of this. And what about America’s own proud story of constitutionality, racism, and manifest destiny? I believe a moral imperative of story to be an effective means of diminishing suffering in the world. A consistent exposure to other stories serves to break us out of our own micro stories, exposing the flaws and prejudices therein and giving us the chance to rewrite them. It is the only way our conscience becomes aware of a new way of seeing. Stories help us to see beyond what we can see from our own small vantage point, enlarging our capacity for love and compassion. 

Redick Introduction

Welcome to the Fall 2016 C. S. Lewis and Myth class blog. Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry in the post title area. Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions you have while reading or completing assignments should be written in your blog. Reflections may relate to connections that you make between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. You are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. You should bring questions from the blog to class and ask those questions that were raised in specific blog entries. As those questions are addressed and answered in the classroom discussions, you should make note of the discussion and answers within subsequent blog entries. This class blog will reflect the quality of your daily classroom participation and completion of homework assignments and will be graded with this in mind. You may submit the blog for grading at several times during the course of the semester. The blog is not the same thing as a compilation of class lecture notes; it is the product of written personal reflection related to the class. A good journal will contain at least 15 entries. At least 6 of the entries should be reflections on the connection between assigned essay reading and the fiction of Lewis: 2 from Narnia, 2 from the Space Trilogy, and 2 from Till We Have Faces. At least 5 of the entries should focus on an outside reading, something not assigned as part of the class requirements. Finally, 4 of the entries will be centered on a topic of the student's choosing.