How to Respond When Someone Says That the

Gospels Are Just Myths

by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

01/08/2016

Your local aggressive atheist might protest, Dont you know the gospels are all just a
myth!

In one sense they are correct. The gospel story does operate like a myth. But before
readers gets upset we have to ask what a myth really is.

Most people do not have a very good understanding of myth and how it works. They
use the term myth to indicate a funny fairy tale about gods and goddesses that simple
people made up long ago.

To be fair, this is one definition of the word myth. The most popular usage of myth is
that it is a fabricated tale. It is a fiction. At worst it is simply a lie which gullible people
believe and manipulative people promulgate. For those who are only interested in facts,
this means that it is worthless, or at best, interesting as a folk tale or a fable might be
interesting.

The term myth however, has far deeper levels of understanding. The mythologist
Joseph Campbell, in his seminal work, The Hero With a Thousand Faces shows how
one particular story (which he calls the mono-myth) recurs in many different ways in
virtually every society.

The mono-myth is the story of how a hero leaves his ordinary world and sets out on an
adventure to overcome great evil and claim a great prize before returning home to save
his people. Campbell recognizes that myth in this sense is a story that connects
individuals and groups with the deepest themes within the collective mind, and that
through the re-enactment of myth and the re-telling of stories individuals identify
subconsciously with the hero and go on the quest with him.

Furthermore, while the heros mythic journey is a visible and outward journey, the
outward story is reflective of the inner journey towards enlightenment and redemption.
As the audience member participates in the story they face the dangers with the hero
and are faced with the same moral choices that the hero must makethus the power of
myth within human culture and the human experience is powerful and profound.

The term myth in this sense can refer to any story that works on us in this mythical
manner. Almost any story from any culture might work on the audience as a myth. A
supernatural story of gods and goddesses, which has no basis in history or fact might
function as a myth, but so might a work of fiction which takes place in a realistic world.
Thus many moviesand not just fantasy or science fictionwork on us as
myths. Furthermore, stories that are factually true can also work on us as myth. When
we hear about granddad who left home to fight in the war and became a hero, saved a
friend and earned a medal the story can work on our imagination like myth.

This brings us to the gospel account. Are the gospels a myth? Yes and no. If myth
means a made up story with no basis in history or fact, then no the gospels are not
myth. However, if myth means a story that functions as a myth, then yes the gospels
(along with a good number of other Bible stories) function as myth.

Through them a hero leaves his ordinary world and comfort zone and sets out on a
great adventure to overcome evil and return victorious with a great prize for the salvation
of his people.

Two of the twentieth centurys greatest myth makersC.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
had a famous conversation about this very topic. Lewis was, at this point, not a
Christian. Tolkien, as a Catholic, had engaged him in a discussion about the topic of
myth and how it functions. Lewis said that the Christian story was a myth a lie, but a lie
breathed through with silverin other words, a beautiful and useful fiction. Tolkien
replied that the gospel story worked like myth, but a myth that really happened. Lewis
then went on to understand that the gospel story works on us just like the other myths,
except that this myth was true and historical.

Does the gospel story connect with the myths of other religions? To some extent it
doesbut thats because it is dealing with the same themes and symbols of dying and
rising, light and darkness, good and evil.

Does the similarity of the gospel story mean that it is therefore just a made up fairy tale
or fable? No. The historical evidence for the gospels is sound. What it does mean is that
this story of Jesus Christ (because it is historical) not only works like a myth
and connects with the deepest, shared aspects of humanity but it also gathers up all the
myths that came before it and followed after it and fulfills and completes them.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/longenecker/how-to-respond-when-

someone-says-that-the-gospels-are-just-myths/#ixzz3whGMAA60