July 2007
The “Power of Myth” refers to the susceptibility of humans to storytelling in molding their minds and lives. This idea was popularized by Joseph Campbell through interviews with journalist Bill Moyers broadcast and published in 1988.
The following describes Joseph Campbell from Phil Cousineau’s introduction to Campbell’s autobiography (From a website – https://mythosandlogos.com/Campbell.html):
Intuitively he followed his Tao of Scholarship beyond the hallowed halls of traditional academia and into a spiritual and psychological view of mythology, which embraces the transcendent Reality referred to by saints and shamans that can be directly experienced. This form of direct perception of what the mystics called cosmic consciousness is nothing less than a personal encounter with the gods. It is the healing vision of order underlying apparent chaos, the seizure of life-affirming Beauty in the heart of darkness. If “snatching the eternal out of the ever-fleeting is one of the great tricks of human existence,” as Tennesee Williams said, then those who can experience eternity now, from Campbell’s challenging perspective, become our tricksters, our spiritual guides.
Consider the following quote by Frank Viola during a recent interview on “Next-Wave Church & Culture“:
Ivan Illich brilliantly said, “Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step forward. If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.”
My book attempts to tell an alternative story, a “new story” rooted in the Bible. One part of this story is the story of the sacred romance that every Christian has been swept into.
[Also see similar quotes: “Telling the Story Differently”or Patheos]
Consider the word of God in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables .
If you think I’m being unreasonable, please email me.
- Article by some house church leaders about Gene Edwards
- Gene Edwards – a movement leader
- Dan Trotter – of House Churches
- Frank Viola’s Newsletter April 2006 Promoting Contemplative Spirituality
- Storytelling or Myth-Making? Frank Viola and Ivan Illich
- Frank Viola, George Barna, & the Emerging Church
- Link between Contemplative & New Thought Movements: Brother Lawrence
- The “House Church Movement”