We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Myth Become History

Myth Become History

The Gospel of John tells of the coming of Jesus in an unusual way. John writes:

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity. The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world… The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth. —John 1:1-5; 9

Jesus is the eternal one who has been with the Father since the beginning. He is not merely a human who was born into history; he is actually the “source of life” and the glory of God. In this sermon clip, Greg connects the story of Jesus’ birth with the deep longings, the inner yearnings of our heart, for something that is greater than this world. He illustrates this by demonstrating that the great legends and myths from a variety of cultures point to Jesus. While today we often equate myths with something that is not true, in fact they often tap into very deep realities. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, two experts on mythology and on Christianity, spoke of the coming of Christ as the myth that became history. Christ became the very thing the greatest mythological stories have pointed to.

If you are interested in the entire sermon, it can be viewed here.

Related Reading

Gospel “Contradictions” and Orality Studies

* This essay has been adopted from G. Boyd and Paul Eddy, Lord or Legend? (Baker, 2007). One of the standard tests historians put to ancient documents to assess their veracity is self-consistency. Generally speaking, fabricated accounts tend to include more inconsistencies than truthful accounts. Hence, the absence of inner contradictions contributes to a positive…

Lighten Up: Meet Jesus

Not what you were expecting?  

Lighten Up: My Favorite!

He always gives the best gifts.

Making Resolutions? Consider This!

So, this is the time of year when we all look back at the year that is passing and look ahead to the new year in front of us. If you’re considering a New Year’s resolution, we wanted to make a tiny suggestion for your consideration. Greg has been fleshing out the ReKnew Manifesto in his…

Did Jesus Believe in Satan?

Jesus’ teaching, his exorcisms, his healings and other miracles, as well as his work on the cross, all remain somewhat incoherent and unrelated to one another until we interpret them as acts of war. As in apocalyptic thought of the time of Jesus, the assumption that undergirds Jesus’ entire ministry is that Satan has illegitimately…

Imaging God Rightly: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 3

In the previous two blogs I noted that the vision of God in our minds is the single most important vision in our lives, for it completely determines whether we’ll have a relationship with God and what kind of relationship this will be. A. W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we…