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Myths and truth | |
July 05th, 2018 | |
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Joseph Campbell was fond of saying that all myths are true. His | |
line of thinking is that the myths we know and that our societies | |
have developed are culturally dependant expressions of a universal | |
story. | |
In comparative mythology or comparative religion we see the same | |
aspects echoed across time and space. In his mind there were two | |
possible reasons why: | |
1. There are similarities in human psychology and physiology | |
that lead us to generate the same responses to our | |
experiences regardless of culture and climate. | |
2. There is a shared truth which all of our myths and symbols | |
help us to express. That expression is unique to our culture | |
but it speaks to a universal truth which itself is ineffable. | |
That is a tragically simplified summary, but it should do for my | |
purposes as there's only a small point I'd like to make regarding | |
myths. | |
Myths are not true, they reveal truth. | |
When Catholics look at the bible and read the story of creation, | |
that story is a myth [0]. It is not literal. It is there to teach | |
us something about creation in language and stories that make | |
sense to the culture of the time. This reading with a cultural | |
lens is vital to a Catholic reading of scripture, even the | |
Gospels. | |
[0] Genesis 1 | |
In the book of Luke [1], there is a passage that should be | |
familiar to even the most lapsed of Christians. It is the story of | |
Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus: | |
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all | |
the world should be registered. This was the first registration | |
when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be | |
registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from | |
Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of | |
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house | |
and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, | |
who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for | |
her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and | |
wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, | |
because there was no place for them in the inn. [1] | |
[1] Luke 2 | |
I want to focus on just two phrases in this paragraph: | |
"he was of the house and lineage of David" | |
and | |
"laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in | |
the inn." | |
Starting with the first phrase, this is an important note for | |
a few reasons, biblically. It touches on prophecy fulfillment | |
because it satisfies the messianic idea that the figure will come | |
from the house of David. It is also important because of the | |
political implications of the house itself. The house of David was | |
the most prestigious of the Jewish people, after all. Heading to | |
the ancestral home of that people is a big deal in a culture | |
dominated by family value. This is a key point to remember in the | |
story, too. Mary and Joseph aren't going to some small town in the | |
middle of nowhere. They're going to the home of the wealthiest, | |
most prestigious family. The people of the house of David would be | |
many. This is not a land of strangers for them. | |
It's also important to remember that for these people at the time | |
there is a great emphasis put on the idea of hospitality. Elijah | |
is going to return, and they must be ready. He may come in the | |
guise of a beggar to your door. And so, welcoming in the traveler | |
has a major role in daily life. It has such a role, that it even | |
affected the architecture of first century Palestine. | |
The typical home at the time was made up of two main rooms. The | |
first was the family's room. It would be raised up off the ground | |
a few feet and be all open. On one side there would be a ledge | |
that drops down to ground level as the room extends into the | |
animal enclosure. The animals would stay inside in poor weather or | |
seasons, and their heat would be shared by the family. On the | |
floor by this ledge were impressions in the ground where feed was | |
placed: the manger. | |
The second room was attached, often with a separate entrance. This | |
was the guest house or reception room, and it was intended for | |
visitors and extended family. We see such a room referenced twice | |
in the bible by the Greek word kataluma. A kataluma is the room | |
used by Jesus and his disciples during the last supper. It is also | |
the word used in this paragraph and translated as "inn". | |
In the ancient world there were no hotels. The closest you might | |
find was a tent filled with straw mats, called a caravansary. This | |
word was translated to "inn" during the story of the good | |
Samaritan. When the man is injured and placed in the inn for care, | |
that was a caravansary. In Luke we're talking about a very | |
different thing. | |
Taken together with our understanding of Jewish culture and the | |
importance of the family of David, it is inconceivable to imagine | |
the holy family alone in a barn on that first Christmas. The | |
kataluma was full, so they were instead brought into the family | |
room in communion with many others. When the child was born he was | |
placed there in the manger where all could see him. | |
So why do I bring this up? It isn't to criticize those poor | |
Christmas pageants. It's to talk about the myths. | |
The story of Jesus birth is not vital to the story of his teaching | |
or his role within the faith. If Jesus is born in the midst of the | |
most powerful Jewish family instead of alone in a barn, there's no | |
fundamental truth being assaulted. In fact, if you spent your | |
entire life believing one idea vs the other idea, it would have | |
almost no bearing on your understanding of Jesus at all. Does that | |
mean it doesn't matter? Does that suggest that a bunch of these | |
stories are filler and don't have an impact on us? Well, no, not | |
exactly. | |
The stories, the myths, and our comprehension of them are trying | |
to tell us something, but it's almost never the literal histories. | |
Here in the story of Christ's birth we are being made to | |
understand his place in the culture of the Jewish people, and his | |
relationship to the prophets that came before him. In this way we | |
can understand that he is legitimate. His role is appropriate. | |
He's not just some guy who found a bunch of metal plates in his | |
backyard [2]. | |
[2] Problems with the gold plates | |
Each myth is meant to communicate something to us that words alone | |
can't. They are intricately tied to the culture of their creation, | |
and when that culture changes so must the myths. Without this | |
change they become distance, misaligned, and misconstrued. Before | |
you know it you are taking words from Leviticus and applying them | |
to a whole different world. | |
As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may | |
buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are | |
around you. [3] | |
[3] Leviticus 25 | |
Whether we're looking at stories of the Buddha or Brahman, | |
Gicelemû’kaong or Birrahgnooloo, the myths create and communicate | |
our understanding of their truth. The myths are not the truth, but | |
they are true, all of them. |