It's like looking at a house from the back rather than the front. Instead of asking "what do I believe?" we might ask, "what is my story?" or "what story am I in?". It is that art form of story that best communicates what is transcendent - goodness, love, hope, and beauty - those attributes of God that we all crave, but find difficult to define. So it should be no surprise that God reveals himself to us in a collection of stories that form one coherent story from which we form our world view. We all want to be part of a good story, and we want our story to be a good one. While we all crave peace and serenity, the best stories are about conflict or struggle - we confront and overcome evil, or build something great; we want our story to be meaningful, but it can have no ultimate meaning unless its part of a bigger story.
Love this. I think it’s really interested (and maybe confronting?) to ask the next question: “What story am I living in?” And that may or may not be the *true* story; but the shape of my life probably tells me something about what story I think I’m living in—whether consciously or subconsciously.
I'm trying to maintain a distinction between (1) a person's worldview, (2) the story a person inhabits, and (3) the story that is actually true. Ideally, (2) and (3) would be identical, and (1) would relate to (2) and (3) in a coherent way.
It's like looking at a house from the back rather than the front. Instead of asking "what do I believe?" we might ask, "what is my story?" or "what story am I in?". It is that art form of story that best communicates what is transcendent - goodness, love, hope, and beauty - those attributes of God that we all crave, but find difficult to define. So it should be no surprise that God reveals himself to us in a collection of stories that form one coherent story from which we form our world view. We all want to be part of a good story, and we want our story to be a good one. While we all crave peace and serenity, the best stories are about conflict or struggle - we confront and overcome evil, or build something great; we want our story to be meaningful, but it can have no ultimate meaning unless its part of a bigger story.
Thanks for these thoughts, Ian. The last sentence especially I think is really profound.
Love this. I think it’s really interested (and maybe confronting?) to ask the next question: “What story am I living in?” And that may or may not be the *true* story; but the shape of my life probably tells me something about what story I think I’m living in—whether consciously or subconsciously.
Thanks Richard. Totally agree.
I'm trying to maintain a distinction between (1) a person's worldview, (2) the story a person inhabits, and (3) the story that is actually true. Ideally, (2) and (3) would be identical, and (1) would relate to (2) and (3) in a coherent way.