Sherry Chandler » “Only a story…”

“Only a story…”

from Harvey Cox, When Jesus Came to Harvard (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004):

Why do people often use the phrase “only a story”? Why are many students — and many adults — troubled and upset when they learn that historical writing, as we know it today, only developed in the modern period, and that most of the classics that nourish the human spirit — including the Bible — consist not just of history, but also of poetry, legends, myths, and sagas? … Religion tries to find meaning in the jumble of life. It does not have to be factual. But it has to be true. “True” in a story means something different from “true” in a news account or the lab report. A true story is one that is true to life at its deepest and most complex.

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