I wrote this because I do not like lies. I do, however, like myths. I like them a great deal, and they are not without theological significance.

So here is my follow up, in defence of myth, and why we should not be surprised to see the ghost of the gospel writ across history. https://twitter.com/MrAshCunningham/status/1336019624329142274

John Tolkien (the greatest writer of myth in the modern age was once talking to his friend, Jack, who wasn’t a Christian. They were both huge lovers of myth, but they disagreed on one thing:
Tolkien’s friend insisted that myths were “but lies breathed through silver.”

In reply, Tolkien composed the poem ‘Mythopoeia’ in which he showed how Truth is interwoven within our perception of the world. The man who reduces a star to ‘just a ball of gas’ has not grasped the full Truth of its magnificence.

Because of character limits, I've just screenshot this fragment from the poem - but do read it! This is how myth is necessary for understanding Truth.

(HT @andybaxter who sent me this poem about 10 years ago - I've not left it alone in my mind since.)

I should add, of course, that Tolkien’s companion was later persuaded both of the relationship between Truth & myth, and also of the real historical life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Under his pen name ‘C.S. Lewis’, Jack wrote an essay entitled ‘Myth became Fact’

It can be found in the collection of essays published under the title 'God in the Dock'.

I give the final word back to Tolkien. On the brink of WWII he delivered the essay ‘On Fairy Stories’ in my beloved St Andrews.

As he reaches his conclusion, he has this to say:

“...in God’s kingdom, the presence of the great does not depress the small. Redeemed Man is still man. Story, fantasy, still go on, and should go on. The evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the “happy ending”.