Seeing Ourselves in Myths It’s hard to know how an ancient culture viewed its myths. There are indications that the Greeks believed in their gods as much as did any group of people. They worshiped them and sacrificed to them because they hoped these powerful beings might bless them and their loved ones. The stories told about these gods, however, were something else. In Christianity, Biblical literalism is a recent phenomenon, arising in Europe and America in the 18th century, according to the French writer, Dennis Diderot, [1] and the 19th and 20th centuries, according to Marcus Borg. [2] Ancient Hebrews and first-century Christians understood that their religious stories were…
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Job, the Perfect Child
A Blameless and Upright Man In the beginning of the Book of Job, God calls Job “a blameless and upright man” (Job 1:8). [1] He feared God, did no evil, and obeyed the commandments. In case any of his children cursed God in their hearts without his knowing it, he sanctified them and made burnt offerings. All he did was good in the sight of the Lord, and he was rewarded with a great wealth of children, oxen, camels, many servants, and more. This theology, that if we do good, we will receive good, was common back in the day (the 4th to 7th centuries BCE) when Job was written.…
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Kindness and “Projective Disgust”
Kindness in Folk Tales A common theme in folk tales is the younger brother or sister who is kind to the needy fish, or old woman, or bird and thus is rewarded, while the selfish older brother or sister is punished for being mean. The moral of such stories is that kindness pays. Today, you would think that hardly anyone had read those old stories. When I told my husband I was writing a column about kindness, he said, “You should call it, ‘Kindness is Dead.’” He was referring, of course, to the loud and angry voices of extremists so prevalent in the United States and around the world. These…
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Finding Our Purpose in Life
A Special Purpose In my role as chaplain, I meet with patients who have survived one health crisis after another. Some have lived through accidents or overdoses. They sometimes tell me they think God kept them alive for a reason, that they have something special left to do. They just need to figure out what it is. In the Bible, God is quite specific when he has a mission for one of the patriarchs. He gave Noah exact instructions about the ark, told Abraham where to go and why, and spoke to Moses throughout his ministry. Today, God seems much more obscure. Hearing A Call My own call to ministry…
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On Resilience and Teapots
Becoming Resilient As the Psychology Today website (1) puts it, when challenged by tragedy and trauma, resilient people “rise from the ashes.” They re-engage in life, learn from their mistakes, maintain optimism, and bounce back to try even harder next time. If you’re resilient, you’re less likely to try to escape with drugs, food, gambling, or overwork because you won’t feel as lonely, uncomfortable, or ashamed. Now that science has discovered the trait of resilience, everyone’s talking about it. We admire people who overcome horrible childhoods to become successful and happy. We’d love to have more capacity to cope effectively with stress, to bounce back, feel optimistic, and keep going…