The Truth of Metaphor

As I use the word, "metaphor" is a large umbrella category.  It has both a negative and positive meaning.  Negatively, it means nonliteral.  Positively, it means the more-than-literal meaning of language. Thus metaphorical meaning is not inferior to literal meaning, but is more than literal meaning.

I have been told that the German novelist Thomas Mann defined a myth as "a story about the way things never were, but always are." So, is a myth true?  Literally true, no.  Really true, yes.

A Catholic priest once said in a sermon, "The Bible is true, and some of it happened."

I say to my students, "Believe whatever you want about whether it happened this way; now let's talk about what the story means."  The statement applies to the Genesis stories of creation, the gospel birth stories of the Bible generally: a preoccupation with factuality can obscure the metaphorical meanings and the truth of the stories as metaphor.

The Bible as metaphor is a way of seeing the whole: a way of seeing God, ourselves, the divine-human relationship, and the divine-world relationship.  And the point is not to "believe" in a metaphor--but to "see" with it.  Thus the point is not to believe in the Bible--but to see our lives with God through it.

Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, pg. 49-54

The Bible and the Emerging Paradigm

Historical: For the emerging paradigm, the Bible is the historical product of two ancient communities, ancient Israel and the early Christian movement. The Bible was not written to us or for us, but for the ancient communities that produced it. A historical approach emphasizes the illuminating power of interpreting these ancient documents in their ancient historical context.

Metaphorical: The emerging paradigm sees the Bible metaphorically, by which I mean its "more than literal," "more than factual," meaning. It is not very much concerned with the historical factuality of the bible's stories, but much more with their meanings.  It is not bothered by the possibility that the stories of Jesus' birth and resurrection are metaphorical rather than literally factual accounts.  It asks, "Whether it happened this way or not, what is the story saying?  What meaning does it have for us?"

Sacramental: The emerging paradigm sees the Bible sacramentally, by which I mean the bible's ability to mediate the sacred.  A sacrament is something visible and physical whereby the Spirit becomes present to us.  A sacrament is a means of grace, a vehicle or vessel for the Spirit.

...the emerging paradigm sees the Bible as sacred scripture, but not because it is a divine product.  It is sacred in its status and function, but not in its origin.

...the emerging paradigm sees the Christian life as a life of relationship and transformation.  Being Christian is not about meeting requirements for a future reward in an afterlife, and not very much about believing.  Rather, the Christian life is about a relationship with God that transforms life in the present.

-Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, pgs. 13-14.

"What have you been reading?" I asked.  "A book," he said (father).  It was on the ground on the other side of him.  So I would not have to bother to look over his knees to see it, he said, "A good book."

Then he told me, "In the part I was reading it says the Word was in the beginning, and that's right.  I used to think water was first, but if you listen carefully you will hear that the words are underneath the water."

Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It, pg. 95