Story, Faith, and Mythology

This past week I read Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey and the NASB translation of the book of Genesis.  Both present the mythology of different groups of people: the first, the ancient Greeks; the second, Jews and Christians.  I noticed many similarities in both stories.  In both, gods (or sons of God) procreate with human women, producing a race of superhumans.  Both feature characters who combine the qualities of nobility and hamartia (which Aristotle calls "the tragic flaw", the Bible translates it "sin").  Each story forms the religious beliefs of its adherents.  The most significant difference I noticed was that I believe in one story but not in the other.

But why?

What criteria do I have for accepting the mythology of Moses and rejecting that of Homer?  If, as Kierkegaard says, faith begins where reason fails, rational reasons must exist for choosing to put faith in Genesis over The Odyssey.  But what are they?  Both are ancient texts.  Both were written by a single author (presumably).  Both are based on longstanding oral traditions within societies that took such storytelling very seriously.  Also, a rational reason suggests a certain degree of objectivity.  But how is this objectivity attained?  Both of these stories frame the thinking of their adherents, so I can only evaluate The Odyssey from the point of view of a Christian.  Likewise, an Achaean could only evaluate Genesis as such.  Even if I were neither, I could only evaluate the stories from a story, whether it be as an atheistic, modern, American or an agnostic, French postmodernist.  As long as we find ourselves within story (which I would argue is the context of all humans), we have no objective way to evaluate any story, including (nay, especially) our own.

Thus I feel more affinity for St. Augustine, who said, "I believe in order to understand."  Any reason or rationale that I employ while making decisions, reading stories, or worshipping the God of my people is influenced by the faith story in which I believe.  Because I accept Genesis as my story, I necessarily exclude The Odyssey from being part of my story.

But how, then, can I tell someone who adheres to another story that my story is true and hers is false?

Perhaps I cannot.  Perhaps that is beyond my ability as a human being with no way to objectively evaluate my story and someone else's.  And why should I want to?  Sadly, this is how many of my fellow Christians have done what they call "evangelism."  They arrogantly claim that what we have is absolute truth and everyone else is wrong.  But this is inappropriate and often counterproductive.  To evangelize is to spread the good news, not to convince others that we have rationally grasped the truth while others wallow in ignorance.

If the church is going to succeed in evangelizing in the 21st century, it must do so in a spirit of humility that recognizes the limits of rationale and reason as subject to our faith.  The best we can do (and what we are called to do) is to live out the story in which we believe while inviting others to be part of it.  Our story is the good news, and this story, not rational argumentation, is what we are called to proclaim.