Seeds of truth

2nd century Roman mosaic of Orpheus

For whatever reason the question of the similarity between the Gospels and other pagan myths strikes me as one of those perennial topics that has become tiresome for Christians to address when it comes to the story of Jesus. It is much like the question of why we no longer follow Old Testament dietary laws. Alas, in all charity, I grant the importance of both questions and I should always assume the question comes from a good place. 

There is an underlying relativism one finds in the acknowledgment that one can find many elements throughout the stories of Jesus that look similar to pagan myths. It boils down to, “If the Jesus story looks a lot like [insert mythological hero], and we don’t believe that story to be true, then the Jesus story is just as ‘not true’.” Despite its sophomoric oversimplification, one can understand the rhetorical appeal. If Jesus looks like an Orpheus and goes into the underworld like an Orpheus, maybe he is, just, an Orpheus. 

The initial response to this claim was to reassert the historicity of the Gospels. The Church’s approach, largely because of the Enlightenment’s movement toward empiricism and rationalism, was to beat the empiricists at their own game and show how the Gospels can check those boxes and prove its veracity. I am sympathetic to this and recognize the value in showing how truly true it is that Jesus said these things as recorded by Matthew, was worshiped as God as recorded by Paul or, most importantly, actually, really, for real rose from the dead as the entire New Testament attests. 

But in the interest of reaching out in a unique way to those struggling with the claims of the Gospel, or seeking to capture the imagination of those falling away from Faith, let me suggest another approach. Own it. Own the similarities we find in the Gospels and the great stories. Who says we have to conclude the same meaning as our relativistic counterparts? In fact, I would argue, along with many great Christians and actual evangelists before me, that God wanted the story of Jesus to resemble those other stories. 

Both C.S. Lewis and St. Justin Martyr saw the value in the recognition of Christ in the ancient myths (even though Justin was very critical of those myths). For Lewis, it was one of the biggest influences in his conversion, even if his initial oversimplified understanding of it appeared to be a stumbling block. He referred to Jesus and the Resurrection as “the true myth” and the “myth became fact” to emphasize not only its historicity but also its poetic beauty. For St. Justin, it was an example of a “seeds of truth,” that which God had placed into the imaginations of humanity so that it could come into full flower in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These myths, they must grow in our minds into Christ. They cannot stay seeds, but the seeds are still needed. It is a great example of the old theological maxim from St. Thomas Aquinas, grace perfects nature (ST I. Q 1. A 8). This does not just apply to one story, but as we have found, it applies to all stories. 

Many are familiar with the concept of the “Hero’s Journey,” which is the meta-narrative that encapsulates stories from all times and cultures. This idea was popularized by Joseph Campbell, who wrote the influential book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which presents the basic steps of this Journey and provides numerous examples from myths past and present to illustrate how prevalent these plot points are. The three most basic steps are known as the “Departure,” where the hero leaves his/her home, the “Initiation,” where the hero experiences the trials and adversity, and finally the “Return,” whereupon our hero, having been changed by his/her trials, brings the spoils back home. These main elements have more specific sub-points as well, all of which can be found in virtually every story, ancient and modern, secular and sacred.

There is some uncertainty about the faith of Joseph Campbell. There is even some speculation that his estrangement from Catholicism was due to his perception that the Church had turned away from her poetic, symbolic roots. There is also speculation that he returned to the Catholic Church of his youth before his death. The more important point to keep in mind in all this is that no amount of similarities can take away from the historicity of the Gospel. These points of resonance only add to the depth and beauty both of the Gospels themselves as well as the desire within the human heart and mind to seek God, even unknowingly.

The idea that Christ is present in human myths and stories actually parallels something St. Thomas Aquinas says in the Summa Theologiae on the fittingness of the Incarnation. In his respondeo, he says that because God’s essence is goodness and “it belongs to the essence of goodness to communicate itself to others,” it would follow that God would communicate himself in the highest possible way (ST III. Q 1. A 1). Not only does the idea of the fullness of revelation in Christ not conflict with lesser revelations, like what all Christians would acknowledge takes place in the Old Testament leading up to Christ, but it implies even lesser revelations outside of faith but present within human reason. It is part of our rational nature, which reflects God’s nature, to give meaning to data by creating a narrative. This is one of the ways we participate in the truth about our world, which is a reflection of Truth itself.

Just as God seeks to communicate himself through the way of truth, why would he not also seek to communicate himself through the way of beauty? The beauty of the ancient myths is undeniable and cannot be argued against. Like the Incarnation itself, the beauty of the great stories sneaks behind the “enemy lines” of our conscious skepticism. It grabs hold of us and does not let go. 

Maybe it is the romantic in me, but I want Jesus to remind me of Orpheus a little bit. It is a beautifully tragic story and the idea that a bridegroom’s love for his bride will tear down the walls of hell should resonate with all of us biblically-based Christians. Imagining Christ, on Holy Saturday, singing his way into Hades, or maybe chanting if one is so inclined, should capture our minds and our hearts. Where Orpheus lost faith and hope, then losing his bride, Christ restored it and redeemed his Bride, the Church. 

So if the sentiment that Jesus is just like all the other myths that humans have invented comes up at the family table, you can educate that person on the historicity of the Gospels and the letters of Paul if that is what you think they need. Maybe they do and it’s the right response. Maybe, just to surprise everyone, try, “Yeah! Isn’t that cool? Maybe God wanted us to have a live action version that reminded us of all the animated ones in our head.” If nothing else, it will lead to a much more interesting conversation than politics.