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Myth Become Fact

....Lewis himself as a young man had fallen into the trap of thinking Christianity just another myth. He had read J. G. Frazer’s celebrated twelve-volume work on myth, The Golden Bough (1890-1915), and was intrigued by the many parallels in the history of religions to the idea of the “dying god.”

In sum, all of mankind’s religious and philosophical yearnings partake in, have an inchoate share in, the truth of the Incarnation. The particularity of Christianity — namely, that it is the true religion — is no longer scandalous, but a beautiful mystery that extends universally, seeing reality whole. As someone once said to me, even if this viewpoint is not true, it certainly is beautiful. I think it beautiful and true.

This also accounts for all the vestiges of Christianity found in ancient philosophy. For example, the teachings of the neo-Platonists, as the young St. Augustine discovered on his path to conversion, had lots of hints of Christianity in them, especially the notion of the Logos (the Word). They had remarkable similarity to the writings of St. John, who would not have known those works. But as St. Augustine notes, they lacked the historical flavor of Christianity, particularly the fact of the Word becoming flesh.

Myth and Christianity are not, therefore, antagonistic to each other. Various myths exist either as anticipations of Christianity or as echoes of Christianity. It then makes perfect sense that Christianity took various pagan holidays and feast days and “borrowed” them, or rather purified them and infused them with deeper meaning, instead of rejecting them. Too often we try to “hide” the fact that Christmas is really a pagan holiday that Christians borrowed. This is something rather to be proud of.

Then, as one runs about flouting a new “enlightened” idea that Christianity is really just a myth, one neatly rationalizes any variety of immoral acts. The enlightened person’s life soon becomes sheer misery, an enslavement to sin. In a word, this “enlightened” viewpoint isn’t really very enlightened.

Christianity, without ceasing to be mythical, is solidly rooted in fact. Your faith is rooted in real events that happened in history. Did you ever notice how the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel, accused of being the epitome of myth with its claims about the Word becoming flesh, sparkles with historical detail? (”A man named John . . . “). Have you ever noticed how St. Luke goes out of his way to state that his account is based on real facts (see Luke 1:1-4)? And St. Paul comes right out with it: “And if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our teaching” (1 Cor. 15:14).

One need not accept the historicity of the Gospels on blind faith. It is eminently reasonable to believe that in Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, the deepest yearnings of mankind, expressed in so many various mythological modes, have been fulfilled.
http://www.victorclaveau.com/htm_html/Catholic%20Apologetics/Apologetics/myth_become_fact.htm

The book the author quoted from, The Mystery of the Incarnation by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn (Ignatius Press, 1983), is now out of print.

The Pantheon Code - fascinating and well worth a peek...
http://www.solvinglight.com/features/athenaandeve01.htm

PS: Vanders, I’m still not sure where you’re coming from, anyway, the author of the thread-starter [Dr Peter Kreeft] actually wrote the definition of Paganism in his article. He’s a Professor of Philosphy at Boston University and actually an expert on C.S. Lewis.

Audio...
http://www.peterkreeft.com/audio.htm