Of Myths and Metanarratives
By Louis Markos
Whereas the existentialist would have us believe that existence precedes essence, and the postmodernist would have us believe that there is no such thing as a metanarrative, nearly all people, whatever their belief system, know that these statements are wrong. That sentence could use some parsing!
What existentialists mean when they say that existence precedes essence is that one of the great illusions of the past is the false belief that that we are born with some kind of innate worth or value or meaning. In matter of fact, we are simply born and have to make up our meaning and purpose as we go along. As for the postmodernists, when they say there is no metanarrative, they mean that there is no overarching sacred drama of which we and our world are a part. There is no grand story that gives meaning to all other stories; there is only a fragmented collection of scattered, relativistic, individual stories.
Now, I have met many people who would call themselves modernists or postmodernists, existentialists or deconstructionists, materialists or relativists, but I have met precious few who believe, at the core of their being, that they were born without an essence into a world that is utterly haphazard and devoid of purpose. Over the last two decades, I have had many opportunities to speak for groups of all kinds, and I have discovered that the overwhelming majority of people believe, not only that they were made with a purpose, but that one of the chief goals of their life is to discover what that purpose is and how it is related to their calling. People may claim they believe that there is no meaning, but that is not the way they live their lives.
In the same way, people may pride themselves on being relativists who have rejected the primitive need for a metanarrative, but, deep down in their hearts, those same people desperately want to believe that they are part of a story that is bigger than themselves. It is, I would argue, precisely for this reason—that we all have an unshakable belief that our lives are endued with purpose and meaning and that we need to discover our role in the metanarrative—that myths continue to exert a profound influence on all people, whether they be Western or Eastern, urban or rural, ancient or modern, religious or non-religious.
Indeed, the current generation, which has been raised on a diet of cynical existentialism and postmodern relativism, seems to be more desperate than any previous generation to believe that they are part of a story. More than that, they're desperate to see themselves as the hero or heroine of that story. I believe this desire accounts for their seemingly insatiable desire for movies and shows about superheroes. It also accounts for their continued interest in the great Greco-Roman myths of pre-Christian Europe.
When, during a speech, I make reference to, or better yet, tell, a myth, I immediately sense a heightened level of interest in the audience, regardless of their age or educational background. Interestingly, I sense that same intensity every time I go on a tangent to trace the etymology of a word. Just as we in the West have been steadily indoctrinated to believe that there is no metanarrative, so have we been indoctrinated to believe that the words we use are arbitrary and do not point back to any fixed, transcendent meaning. And yet, just as we cannot shake from ourselves a belief in that greater story, so we cannot shake from ourselves a belief that language is inherently meaningful and that by learning the original roots of a word, we can come closer to the truth, and perhaps also to goodness and beauty.
And that takes us to apologetics. Although I would argue that mythology, rightly understood, has always been more a friend than a foe to the Christian apologist, today it is a greater and more necessary friend. Myths inspire and challenge people to wrestle with the big questions and issues of life in a way that scientific or logical arguments cannot. People, especially those of the current generation, have an innate sense that myths can shed light upon their own wrestling with their own big questions about God, man, and nature. A shockingly high number of students today are choosing to major or minor in psychology, most likely because they think that doing so will help them to understand themselves and their motivations.
As far as I can gather, modern psychology, grounded as it is in a reductive view of man that treats us as products of our socio-economic milieu rather than as moral, volitional creatures who were made good in God’s image but fell into sin and depravity, seldom provides the real understanding that students are seeking—though it does tend to convince them that they are helpless victims! Most students will gain a truer sense of inner enlightenment and revelation from working their way through a myth that forces them to grapple with such universal, cross-cultural questions as: Who am I, and why am I here? What are my purpose and calling in life? How do I know I possess intrinsic value and worth? How do I make choices in a confusing, seemingly arbitrary world?
Apologists who would convince the young people of this generation of the urgency of such questions would do well to engage them in a dialogue with mythology. Are they troubled by the evil in the world? Discuss with them the myth of Pandora ’s Box, not forgetting to remind them that it was Pandora’s disobedience and lack of faith that tempted her to open the box, and that even the pagan tellers of the tale recognized that hope yet remained at the bottom of the box.
Do they balk against the commands of God? Discuss with them such myths as Daedalus and Icarus and Phaethon and the Chariot of the Sun, stories in which a young man refuses to heed the good advice of his father and plummets to his death. Do they really wish to seek after a truth that will lift them out of the confusion and brokenness of our world? Discuss with them how Plato’s philosopher journeys out of the Cave of illusions to gaze upon that which is really real and truly true. But also discuss with them the error made by Orpheus, who almost leads his beloved Eurydice out of Hades, but tragically loses his focus and glances back at her and the darkness below.
Do they want to wrestle with predestination and free will? Introduce them to the tragedy of Oedipus. Do they want to debate the role of religion in the public square? Introduce them to the tragedy of Antigone. Do they want to understand the differences between masculinity and femininity? Introduce them to the tragedy of Jason and Medea.
Do they want to understand the nature of desire in both its positive and twisted form? Introduce them to such timeless myths as Apollo and Daphne, Echo and Narcissus, and Pygmalion and Galatea? Do they want to understand the nature of spiritual warfare? Introduce them to the myths of Perseus and Medusa, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Orestes and the Furies. Above all, do they yearn to know what it takes to be a hero? Then introduce them to the legendary labors of Hercules.
Christianity is a set of doctrines that must be believed, but it is also an adventure that must be lived. If we would attract moderns, especially the young people of this generation, to the gospel, then we must make it real, visceral, and, yes, heroic. Along with The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, myths offer one of the best vehicles for bringing the joy and the sorrow, the hope and the danger, the beauty and the terror of the Christian pilgrimage to shimmering life.
— Louis Markos, PhD, Professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University, holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. His 20 books include Apologetics for the 21st Century, Atheism on Trial, and From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics. He retells, analyzes, and provides application questions for fifty myths in his The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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