Thursday, January 22, 2015

Truth Need Not be Factual

The bible is filled with myths...creation myths, flood myths, myths about giants, myths of origin (tower of babel), miracle stories (virginal conception, a 90 year old woman conceiving, walking on water, parting water, living in a fish for three days, bringing dead children back to life, angel visitations, etc.). These stories can be true even when they can't be factual. They are powerful, though not literal. As the recently departed bible scholar Marcus Borg said, "Myth is stories about the way things never were, but always are." He used to also quote a Native American storytelling intro, "I don't know if it happened exactly this way, but I know it's absolutely true." Progressive spirituality distinguishes truth from fact. Truth is so much bigger and can be communicated with imaginative tales that are in no way factual.


"Myth is stories about the way things never were, but always are." Marcus Borg

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