FICTION WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH.
“there is an old quarrel between philosophy and poetry…”
Plato, Republic, 607b5–6
ON THE PROBLEM OF FICTION.
There is a simple solution to the problem many people have with fiction and the Bible, but it requires a hero’s journey that may put you at odds with your community, or even worse, family. The solution is to head straight towards the intuition you already have that the Bible is not a history book. Sometimes there is history behind the stories of the Bible, but this is seldom the goal of the scribe. The goal of the scribe is to produce literature that helps a people understand God, themselves, their heritage, their gift, and their destiny. Those are things we could all use. Those are close to the truth and stability we all desire.
The value of story is not measured by its accuracy in reflecting an objective reality. Quite the opposite, the best stories imagine new worlds. Biblical literature can guide you towards new hope and possibility. After generations of cyclical history in Mesopotamia, Yahweh asks Abraham to go and promises him kids and grandkids, a place to call home, and prosperity. And for some reason Abraham goes. He trusts this God and moves away from every pattern and person he has known. This virtue is later called faith, and faith is called righteous.
Now, what if you read this story in Genesis 12, and it struck you? Like what if it deeply moved you and started to change you? Just like Abraham, what if you realize you are also are supposed to go somewhere new? What if you felt in your bones that the way you had always been doing things was no longer working or challenging? What if by some mystery you knew you had a destiny and you had to go? And it meant leaving what was comfortable— you knew it was going to cost you. And yet, somehow you knew what was comfortable was holding you back? And so all of a sudden there are people who are fine and well, but who are not capable of seeing what you see is possible. And all of a sudden old patterns and habits and and ways of doing things and even addictions that are less than the best… you have to leave them. Old ways of being are in the way.
If the story of Abraham does this in you; guides you in this way…does it matter if it is history? Does it matter there was a historical Abraham? Does it really? Does it matter that the patriarchs may be fictive? Because most scholars think Abraham is about as real as Odysseus or Hector or Samson of Achilles. That is to say, the stories are based on a real person and a real historical kernal. But we cannot recover that person, we only have the literature.
I would argue the problem of fiction starts with a misconception that fiction is incapable of telling you the truth. But the opposite is true: A lot of times fiction tells the truth better. This is why art moves you to new lands and lifechange, not cold facts.
THE ANCIENTS KNEW FICTION TO BE VALUABLE.
The ancient Greeks were the first scholars. The scholarship and scientific investigation of the Greeks naturally led to self-critique of their own mythic tradition. They began to question their own guiding stories. The Greek philosophical schools questioned the validity and even art form of poets like Homer or Hesiod. The cultural belief that it was the sacred task of the poet, like Homer, to educate or instruct, eventually collided with scholars who were deterred by the fantastic, mythological elements in these literary epics. Just like many of us, it was hard for them to take the impossible parts of the stories at face value. Just like those of us who choose to be intellectually honest, the first scholars had to decide what to do with their myths.
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF MYTHIC POETRY?
Alongside impossible events in stories, the character flaws and actions of many deities in the works like the Iliad or the Theogany seemed uncouth and barbaric. The gods seem to act in ways unsuitable to more evolved conceptions of the divine which accompanied the age of philosophy and emerging science. Really, the Gods of Olympus sometimes behaved worse than the humans who were supposed to hold piety for them. The Classical Age was a time where the learned were looking for working systems of explanation for the natural, and in some cases the supernatural world— misbehaving gods and impossible events conflicted with the intellectual climate. The result was a scholarly debate over the value and telos (ultimate goal) of the poetry which told the deepest myths of Greece.
DOES MYTH INSTRUCT?
Over time, two general viewpoints were carried forward from Plato and Aristotle. Beginning with Plato and taken up by the Stoics and the Pergamon school, was a belief that literature was good for διδασκαλία (didaskalia), or instruction. Plato actually believed the poets could in no way lead to philosophical wisdom and that these writers had no place in the ideal Republic. Instead, he did adapt for the first time, the idea of mimesis. Do you hear the word “mimic” when I say “mimesis”? That’s exactly the idea— you can mimic virtue in characters. Mimesis is the notion that readers could gain instruction through poetry by either imitation or rejection of the actions and opinions of characters. This meant that literature had merit based on its ability to morally instruct, or benefit the reader by means of virtue. Essentially, this is the root of the flannel graph boards and Sunday school programming your parents made you go to. “Be a good guy like Samson” (hold the phone there teacher…).
Eventually, working towards mimesis also meant the onset of the “allegorical approach.” Allegory tries to find the virtue or morality or philosophical conception one was seeking by reading figuratively. And so Samson, the Israelite Hercules, for all his terrible behavior, signifies Christ. Just as Samson delivered Israel from the Philistines, Jesus delivers Israel from their sins… these are the ninja turtle moves of allegory. So for Plato, literature instructed by promoting virtue or showing the danger of vice, and when a character or event gets too difficult to explain, allegory is the magical bridge that allows the interpreter to update the story.
DOES MYTH ENTERTAIN?
Contrarily, Plato’s student Aristotle argued that the value of literature was merely for entertainment. For Aristotle, Poetry was simply art meant to entertain, and you shouldn’t look for any guidance in epic verse. For Aristotle, and the Alexandrian school who took up his view, literature was to be read on its own terms for ψυχαγωγίας (psuchagogias), or “pleasure” for entertainment. For these interpreters, the yield of Homer and others was to enter the world of the poet and read critically. If one wanted “instruction” he ought to read philosophy—not the poetry of mythic story.
Rather than seeking instruction, the Alexandrian school would come to take a “literalist” approach to the poetic text, interpreting it by means of Homer’s own society, culture, and hand insomuch as possible. Think of the English teacher that always made you prove your point from the meaning of the author from the text itself (for me this was Mrs. Mulford, a KHS legend…). Or the history professor that urged you to read primary sources within their cultural time and place. This is close to the Aristotelian method of literary criticism.
Aristotle’s idea became the seed of literary criticism as a separate discipline, called grammatike. The scholars in this tradition at Alexandria came to analyze grammar, look at metrical structure, historical context, and Homer’s world. And they read Homer or Hesiod only aesthetically— they were not seeking moral instruction but rather high-register art and literary prowess. Since the goal of literature is simply to entertain, there is no need to explain away impossible events or unreasonable characters. Embellishmnet simply exists as part of the author’s goal and literary telos of entertainment.
PAUL SAYS SACRED TEXTS INSTRUCTS.
And so the debate going all the way back to Plato and Aristotle was about an ancient version of readers’ response versus the historical-critical method. Since we are discussing how to read the Bible as a guiding story, did you know one biblical writer weighs in on this ancient argument about the point of literature? The apostle Paul not only knew this was a living debate, he affirms that literature can instruct your life:
All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching (didaskilia), for reproof, for correction, and for instruction (paidea) in righteousness. In order that the person dedicated to God might be capable and equipped for every good work.
1 Timothy 3.16-17
A couple of things are striking about his advice to a young, underling Pastor named Timmy. First, Paul starts with an assumption, not an argument, when he says all scripture is God-breathed. Paul thought this but so did every pagan. Religious literature, be it the Bible or Homer, was believed to carry divine gravity, weight, breath. And so the point many moderns want to use to prove the Bible is true (which is actually only referring to the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament because there was no New Testament yet), is actually not the point Paul is trying to make. Everyone assumed scripture was God-breathed, the second bit is the important part— that literature is useful for didaskilia, teaching or instruction. Second, what does it teach? Scripture, that is the stories of the Bible, can teach you to refute corruption, to correct yourself, and how to be rightous. Even more, Paul uses the word paidea at the end of verse 16. Paidea is the buzz word for Greek education, or passing on culture to learners. Scripture can inculcurate you in righteousness, or correctness with God and others. I think that’s pretty neat.
Hold on, it gets better. Verse seventeen tells you why it matters to your life. You are looking for a guiding story, Paul says the stories of Scripture can guide your life, and now he tells you the point of becoming a person of virtue, or educated in righteoussness: So that you can participate in a story bigger than yourself. He writes, in order that you might be dedicated to God and capable (have the ability) and equipped (have the tools for the job) for every good work. Every good work carries the idea that there are specific works God, Energy, Source, the Universe has for you to do in the world. You have mitzvoth, or acts of righteousness designed to heal the broken world. You have pieces of the puzzle to put back inplace. You have a purpose, a goal, a telos, a destiny to fulfill. And so the point scripture— the stories that may or may not carry varrying levels of objective historical accuracy— is not to tell you about the past, it is to inspire you for your future.
FLANNEL GRAPH WAS MEANT FOR KIDS.
You see, there will always be myriads of people who prefer flannel graph for adults. They want to read the Bible as a history lesson and use circular reasoning to defend how the Bible can never be wrong or contradict itself. These are folks who focus on the wrong part of Paul’s point— they camp out on “god-breathed” with no idea what that actually meant in antiquity or even what texts Paul is referring to. You will know these people because they will have all sorts of theological baggage about what the Bible is and always be up for an argument about it…all the while their lives will not inspire you in the least. And when impossible things happen inthe Bible they simply believe it… because it is in the Bible. See the circle? And so people live in a fish for three days or donkeys talk or people turn into pillars of salt. Oh, and Bible believing status quo guardians fail to move God’s creation forward towards righteousness, justice, a fair deal for all, equal love for all people, you know, all the stuff Paul is really trying to tell Timmy.
If you have looked around a sea of believers and wondered how anyone could take a talking snake seriously… you are not alone. And you are not crazy. You are awake and wanting a real purpose. You are using your divine image of reason and moral integrity— you did not do anything wrong for wanting your faith to make sense. What is wrong is blind belief and a failure to look for what the stories are supposed to create: New worlds right in the midst of the old one. The Bible is a star factory for people who take its instruction seriously, a black hole for people who seem to walk God’s green earth to argue about whether the “inspred” part is true… Besides, flannel graph is supposed to be for kids.
THE STORY IS ITS OWN REWARD.
For those of us who need to be intellectually honest, the story is its own reward. When we move past needing to verify all sorts of impossibilities and instead begin with the starting point that fantastic things happen in ancient stories— at least the great ones— now we are in a place to ask what the Bible actually means. What does it mean, according to the authors of the Old and New Testaments, to be the called out people of God? What does it mean that the one, true God chooses to adopt a slave people instead of a conquering empire? What does it mean that this God abandons local boundaries and is with his people everywhere? What does it mean that the Son of Man came to serve? What does it mean that the kingdom of God is within you? What does it mean that the greatest command is to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength? What does it mean to love your neighbor as you love yourself? And who is your neighbor anyway?
You see, you have to move past the Bible as a historical account to get to what it was intended to do int he first place. The scribes who wrote the Bible are speaking of the past, but only to speak to the present and the future. They are creating a new world for an old people. They are concerned with the kind of relationships that are possible inlight of who God is to God’s world. And so they wrote stories, and over time they combined stories into story. The Bible is the story of God’s people imaging God in the world in a way that matters. You can still learn how to do this, and when you do, the story will be its own reward.
FICTION TELLS THE TRUTH BETTER.
Fiction tells the truth better. This is often the case. Think of the stories, songs, and movies that moved you the most. I’ll bet a lot of them were not factually true. The power of myth is not factual veribility, it is that the best stories can give you virtue and peace of mind. These are in short supply in the modern world, and so are people who read the Bible in its ancient context. But for people like you and people like me, the best stories cultivate our best selves. The goal of great literature is instruction in virtue and bridling the vice that destroys the world. You get to participate in the creation of the world by first deciding who you are and what it is you stand for. Once the best stories have instructed you in righteousness, you get to build that characteristic in the world around you.
The reason fiction is more effective at shaping your character is that it is highly relatable and formative. Think about the times people have been able to speak deep things about who you want to be into your life. For me, it happened through story. A coach told me how he learned a similar lesson the hard way, and so now he knows he wants to treat people this way. As she speaks, something is spoken about the compassion you will try to have from this point forward. A grandparent tells you about how afraid they were to stand up for what was right in the civil rights movement, and how it brings them shame when they think of ways they failed and pride when they thing about ways they suceeded in moving towards justice. As you listen, you decide never to be afraid to hear the teacher in your soul. You watch the Shawshank Redemption and see what one man decides to do when everyone around him betrays him, refuses to believe him, and tries to shup him up forever. Something inside of you asks whether it matters what everyone or anyone things if you know the truth inside your core. You decide it does not, and it makes you brave. You read the prodigal son, walk into your sons room and tell him no matter what, no matter how bad you think you have messed up, you can always come home.