The Bible- Gospel or Moralisms

While reading on the King James I recently found an interesting quote from Bruno Bettelheim’s book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (Alfred A. Knopf, 1976). The portion cited was the following:

“As long as parents fully believed that Biblical stories solved the riddle of our existence and its purpose, it was easy to make a child feel secure.  The Bible was felt to contain the answers to all pressing questions: the Bible told man all he needed to know to understand the world, how it came into being, and how to behave in it.  In the Western world the Bible also provided prototypes for man’s imagination.”

This caught my attention as I agreed with its point, and I was intrigued that it arose in a book on the value of fairy tales (the value of which I have also commended several times at here).  However, once I found a copy of Bettelheim’s book, I discovered the rest of the quotation. Immediately following the portion cited above was this:

But rich as the Bible is in stories, not even during the most religious of times were these stories sufficient for meeting all the psychic needs of man.
Part of the reason for this is that while the Old and New Testaments and the histories of the saints provided answers to the crucial questions of how to live the good life, they did not offer solutions for the problems posed by the dark sides of our personalities.  The Biblical stories suggest essentially only one solution for the asocial aspects of the unconscious: repression of these (unacceptable) strivings.  But children, not having their ids in conscious control, need stories which permit at least fantasy satisfaction of these ‘bad’ tendencies, and specific models for their sublimation.
Explicitly and implicitly, the Bible tells of God’s demands on man.  While we are told that there is greater rejoicing about a sinner who reformed than about the man who never erred, the message is still that we ought to live the good life, and not, for example, take cruel revenge on those whom we hate.  As the story of Cain and Able shows, there is no sympathy in the Bible for the agonies of sibling rivalry – only a warning that acting upon it has devastating consequences.
But what a child needs most, when beset by jealously of his sibling, is the permission to feel that what he experiences is justified by the situation he is in.  To bear up under the pangs of his envy, the child needs to be encouraged to engage in fantasies of getting even someday; then he will be able to manage at the moment, because of the conviction that the future will set things aright.  Most of all, the child wants support of his still very tenuous belief that through growing up, working hard, and maturing he will one day be the victorious one.  If his present sufferings will be rewarded in the future, he need not act on his jealousy of the moment, the way Cain did.” (52)

This is a very significant comment which possesses real insight while also betraying a sadly common misconception about the Bible- a misconception found not just in the culture in general but in the church as well.

The major problem is that the author sees the Bible simply as demands for good behavior, in story and precept. The Bible is simply a set of morals. Sadly, this is often how it is preached. And, if this is how you see the Bible, it is certainly not “sufficient for meeting all the psychic needs of man.” But the author, and far too many preachers, misses the Gospel which is the center of the Biblical story! Yes, God’s demands and the negative consequences of disobedience are made clear. But the recurring theme is God’s rescue and redemption of His failing people. The Bible’s answer for “asocial” behavior and feelings is not “repression” but redemption. This is the point of the cross which is the center of the Biblical story.

Bettelheim is on to something when he states children- and adults as well- need to be assured that things will be made right someday. The key to endurance is the hope that the wrongs endured now will be made right and that injustices will be dealt with. However, Bettleheim points us simply to fantasies of getting even ourselves. The gospel points us to the resurrection where our sufferings will be removed and justice will be vindicated, not by our own getting even but by God’s intervention. This, then, is not simply fantasy but a real promise and a steady ground for hope.

As we read and teach the Bible to our children we must make sure that we do not stop simply with call to proper behavior but we get to the central point of grace which pardons and empowers (e.g. Titus 2:11-14). We must also regularly point our children to the hope of the resurrection which grounds our perseverance (1 Cor 15:58).

The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and the Goblin, George Macdonald
Reprint by Wordsworth Classics
pb. 221 pp.
Ages 7+

This was our first Macdonald story to read together. That fact, combined with the estimation by many that this is his best children’s story, led to high expectations- perhaps too high. Even though C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien mention Macdonald as a great inspiration to them, I did not think this story rose to the level of Tolkien or Lewis. The book starts a bit slowly, but in the end the boys and I enjoyed it.

This is a fun tale of a young princess, goblins which conspire to capture her and a common miner boy who rescues her. Along the way Macdonald emphasizes faith in the unseen, graciousness to others, patience wit those who cannot yet believe, and strongly critiques the then common idea that nobility of spirit was only to be found in those of “noble birth.” In spite of the disappointment mentioned above this was a fun story. At various places we laughed out loud or were held in suspense by the action or intrigue. I was particularly interested in how the evil goblins were held at bay by the use of poetry. Very interesting!

There seemed to be loose ends that were never tied up so that a few things remained unclear to me. However, we would commend this book as a fun story to share.

C. S. Lewis on the Importance of Imagination

Just yesterday I came across this quote from a letter by C. S. Lewis. It captures a truth important to me about reading to children, and the sorts of things they need exposure to. Of course Lewis also argues elsewhere that stories themselves have a keen power in pointing us to Christ. So awakening the imagination is also part of pointing one to Christ.

“Minto reads him the Peter Rabbit books every evening, and it is a lovely sight. She read very slowly and he gazes up into her eyes which look enormous through her spectacles – what a pity she has no grandchildren. Would you believe it, the child has never been read to nor told a story in his life? Not that he is neglected. He has a whole time Nurse (an insufferable semi-lady scientific woman with a diploma from some Tom-fool nursing college), a hundred patent foods, is spoiled, and far too expensively dressed: but his poor imagination has been left without any natural food al all. I often wonder what the present generation of children will grow up like. . . . They have been treated with so much indulgence yet so little affection, with so much science and so little mother-wit. Not a fairy tale nor a nursery rhyme.”

- Quoted in Alan Jacobs, The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis, 217). (New York: HaperCollins, 2005), 234-35.

Wise Words

Wise Words: Family Stories that Bring the Proverbs to Life, by Peter Leithart
(Canon Press), audio, 4 CD’s
Ages 5+

This book is also available in print, but I bought the audio to listen to as we travelled over the holidays. It is excellent and we all enjoyed it greatly. The stories are read well, and Leithart has done an amazing job weaving these stories. He has taken common fairy tale motifs and woven in common elements from biblical stories creating fun stories that illustrate themes from Proverbs. Each story is concluded with a “moral” which cites a specific passage from Proverbs. This moral though only points out one of the many lessons contained in each story. I enjoyed asking my boys if they caught the various allusions to biblical stories, motifs, etc.

I highly recommend this book. It is fun and instructive. My boys begged us to continue listening. It is also a great opportunity to check and develop biblical literacy as you see what biblical allusions your children catch. The book is also a great training in learning to read all sorts of literature (fairy tales in this case) in light of the gospel.

NB: You can hear audio clips here.

Swallowing the Golden Stone

Swallowing the Golden Stone: Stories and Essays, Walter Wangerin, Jr.
(Augsburg Fortress, 2001), hb. 183 pp.

I have only dabbled in this book so far, but I bought it because CBD has it on sale for 50 cents- for a hardback! At this price it’s worth picking up even if it only has a few good items, especially if you are already placing another order. It contains stories for kids as well as essays on writing. I wanted to go ahead and mention this, even though I can’t give an opinion yet, so you can take advantage of the deal. If you have read this book I’d be interested to hear from you.