Fiction

The series so far.

The series.

This post is a continuation of the benefits of mythology, a list that began in Part 3 and continued in Part 4.

Read Part 1.

The ubiquity of mythology is undeniable, but to what degree should Christians interact with mythology? An answer in the third-century would most likely be in the negative if answered by the church father Tertullian, who famously asked, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Tertullian didn’t have time for a “mottled Christianity,” mixed with Platonic philosophies or other heresies.

But what about an answer in the twenty-first century? What amount of involvement with pagan mythology is proper? Christians and non-Christians alike have had differing responses to this question.

Bradley Birzer writes,

To the modernist, “myth,” like religion, merely signifies a comfortable and entrenched lie. For the postmodernist, myth simply represents one story, one narrative among many; it is purely subjective, certainly signifying nothing of transcendent or any other kind of importance. For religious fundamentalists, myths also represent lies.¹

Some fundamentalists may object to Birzer’s taxonomy, but I have witnessed a similar reaction by a fundamentalist leader. A few years ago, I presented this topic at a conference for educators, and at lunch, just before I held my workshop, I mentioned to an inquiring stranger² that my workshop had to do with the benefits of mythology. He commented that it sounded like “benefits of paganism” and questioned whether there could be any benefits of paganism.³

Girl meets boy. Boy becomes obsessed with girl. Girl returns the favor. Boy turns out to be a vampire. Girl doesn’t mind as long as she can be with boy every moment of her life. This is a stereotypical, adolescent relationship (with the exception of the Dracula factor)! In Stephanie Meyer’s fast-paced Twilight series, obsessive love is the name of the game.

Davis Bunn and Janette Oke, The Centurion’s Wife (Acts of Faith, Book 1) (Minneapolis, MN:Bethany House, 2009), 384 pages, softcover

by Pastor Dan Miller

^{Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from Dan Miller’s book Spiritual Reflections.}

“Who said anything about safe?”

The Christmas season is upon us, and some of you may still be finishing up your shopping for gifts. Others of us are hoping that there will be some “book money” in the stocking. By the way, gift certificates are usually the safest way to go when a book lover is on your list and you have no idea which book to select. (They’re also very easy to wrap!) Our favorite bookstores offer gift certificates that can be purchased online. They are as follows:

Thrasher, Travis. Isolation. New York: Faith Words, 2008. Trade Paperback, 304 pages. $13.99.