3. What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story or stories you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories?
Since the beginning of this course, I have been pleasantly surprised by the Indigenous creation stories (and Indigenous stories in general for that matter) that we have been exposed to. As someone who was baptised Catholic and went to Catholic private school from kindergarten until high school graduation, I have had a more-than-healthy serving of Christian doctrine served to me throughout my life, as if sweet aunt Fran would not stop piling mashed potatoes onto your plate at Thanksgiving dinner. I understand the reasons my Catholic schools functioned in this way (and I do not have the word count space in this blog post to get into social brainwashing), and it has left me with a pointed outlook on stories of spirituality and belief. To say the Indigenous stories we have been exposed to has been refreshing would be an understatement, for they have rejuvenated my faith in spirituality stories. Below I’ve formulated a list of some differences I’ve found between Bible stories that I’ve been exposed to and Thomas King’s oral retelling of his creation story:
– Bible stories are stern and cold while King’s Indigenous story is steeped in humour and humility
– in Bible stories, the characters that defy God tend to be punished violently while there is no vindictive deity in King’s creation story that threatens the characters
– the archaic language used in the Bible (and they’re keeping it) compared to the casual, conversational tone and approachable language used by King
– Bible lessons see an omnipotent force talking at the listener while the listener (the live audience) is included in King’s story
– The Christian Bible is written and not prone to change while this Indigenous story is oral and is intentionally changeable because Indigenous stories are about “absorbing and transforming their own context as they work to connect and reconnect the past with the present” (Paterson “Lesson 3.2”). In regards to his story, King offers the audience to “do [sic] it what you will” (Massey Lectures)
– Christian stories portray clear hierarchies of power while King’s creation story puts emphasis on the power of working together (Charm and the animals all work together to get mud from the bottom of the ocean, and the Twins create the land)
Besides these specific differences, the tone of the different types of story put them at opposite ends of the spectrum. Generally, Biblical stories are formal while Indigenous stories feel friendly; approaching the Bible is intimidating (because of the reasons stated above) while Thomas King’s story is welcoming (this can also be attributed his orality). In the audio telling of the creation story, King is ensuring the audience is enjoying themselves and lets them laugh. There is not much laughing when a Bible story is being told.
As for similarities… those were more challenging to find. The greatest similarities I can think of are the fantastical elements of both Biblical stories and Indigenous stories; both modes of storytelling use fantasy as a vessel to portray the lessons they are teaching. And to this effect, the presence of supernatural beings is common is both stories (I’m calling Jesus Christ supernatural) which I believe is an effective tool to enhance the power of the stories being told.
Works Cited
Birkey, Del. “New Testament Limits of Authority and Hierarchical Power.” Priscilla Papers: The academic journal of CBE International, 31 July 2001, https://www.cbeinternational.org/resources/article/priscilla-papers/new-testament-limits-authority-and-hierarchical-power.
Hamilton, Adam. “God’s Violence In The Old Testament: The Problem.” Adam Hamilton, 12 August 2014, https://www.adamhamilton.com/blog/gods-violence-in-the-old-testament-the-problem/#.XmQ4PZNKh-U.
Gipp, Samuel C. “Aren’t There Archaic Words In The Bible?” Chick Publications, https://www.chick.com/information/article?id=archaic-words.
King, Thomas. “The Truth About Stories – Part 1.” The 2003 Massey Lectures from CBC Radio, 6 November 2003, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2003-cbc-massey-lectures-the-truth-about-stories-a-native-narrative-1.2946870.
Paterson, Dr. Erika. “Lesson 3.2.” English 372 99C Canadian Studies, https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl372-99c-2019wc/unit-3/lesson-3-2/.
Hi Jacob,
I really enjoyed reading your insight into the different methods of storytelling, especially in connection with your own childhood of learning Christian stories.
I tend to agree with you about the joy of reading (or listening to, or reading aloud) Indigenous stories. I feel like the stories themselves, and the characters, especially in King’s novel, aren’t trying too hard to impress anyone and are comfortable within their own skin.
While I was never raised in a church setting, my mom and grandma have always described themselves as spiritual. My mom has always prayed to angels and believed in God, but she chooses not to regularly attend church. For this reason, I was raised with a totally different understanding of religious stories from any of my friends raised in Christian households. My mom would tell me stories before bed that were similar, in some ways, to the stories that King shares. Probably most radical, my mom always referred to God as “Mother God and all the love and light in heaven,” because, me being raised in a house with only women, my mom didn’t want to raise me to believe in an all-powerful man, without paying respect to the strength of women.
Do you think as certain church groups become more progressive and welcoming, the shape in which biblical stories are shared will change? While I am not personally religious, I’ll always remember my mom’s stories of angels and heaven fondly, because she shared them in a beautiful way.
Sorry for such a long message!
Georgia
Hi Georgia,
Thank you again for an insightful comment (and please do not apologize for the length, I enjoyed your personal anecdote).
Hearing about your mother adapting the traditional concept of the gender of God is excellent, and a soft challenge to the status quo of rigourous Christian thought. I think this, along with the oral aspects of how she would relay spiritual stories to you, is something that strict contemporary religions should take note of. I believe many churches are becoming more and more contemporary as society changes (for example, there is a church in Victoria with a rainbow Pride flag hanging on it and I believe the pastor is a queer woman). I think the Bible is a fantastic piece of literature and does not need to stop being a guide for religious practice, but its teachings should be taken with a grain of salt; it was written two-thousand years ago, and our society today scarcely functions the same way it did back then.
If Christian religions could take anything from Indigenous spirituality, I believe it should be its adaptability. While I don’t foresee any great change in how Christianity functions, hearing stories like yours restores my faith in Biblical spirituality being adaptive and used in a nuanced, individual way.
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for another interesting post. Your list of differences was striking and covered a lot of important points. To build on your thought around the authoritative nature of Christian origin stories, I think the spirituality/belief system is something I have been finding to be different. The bible, and Christianity is often concerned with having its followers follow the steps they are told to, based on what is in the bible or in the church – the way that you are Christian and spiritual is by abiding to these “rules” and norms. In many of the stories King tells, we see the stories change based on who is involved, and see that they are all still spiritual. It seems Indigenous stories and beliefs are more flexible and adaptable, and more inclusive of the “followers” own beliefs and thoughts.
What do you think? Thanks!
Katarina
Hi Katarina,
Thank you for adding to my list – this is something that I did not think of. I believe you raise an excellent point worth discussing – the aspect of control that Biblical stories imbue compared to the inclusive, adaptable nature of Indigenous stories. It’s true that Biblical lessons tend to be authoritative and leave little room for interpretation; instead of encouraging a conversation, they create more of a social podium in which they stand upon and recite their stories. Indigenous stories in this course have reminded me of fairy tales or children’s stories, except they feel more informational than cautionary. Where Bible stories warn the listener, the Indigenous stories we’ve been exposed to are more akin to a story of an event that took place rather than a lesson to be learned. As you said, there are more “rules” in Bible stories than in the Indigenous stories which makes me feel like Indigenous spirituality would create a more nuanced, forgiving culture than a deeply Christian one.
Totally agree with everything you’ve said – you articulate it so much more clearly than I did. Thanks!
Hi Jacob,
It was great to read about your personal experience with religious stories and how that shapes your understanding of King’s stories.
I come from a Jewish background and have also found the authoritative tone and set of rules in the religion very unapproachable. As you say, the effect of this strict framework makes the idea of ever disobeying God a threat. This ultimately takes away from the true meaning of religion, which in my opinion is a way to bring all people together, not against each other.
I had a similar response when reading King that he makes the stories easier to connect with. I also recognized the hierarchal structure apparent in many Western religious stories and am growing more and more aware of these effects.
I’m curious of your reaction to King’s reworkings of Christian stories in Green Grass, Running Water?
Best,
Jade 🙂
Hi Jade,
Thank you for your reflective input. What is up with monotheistic religions simply scaring their followers? It baffles me.
Like the title of my blog suggests, I find King’s approach refreshing – including his contortion of Old Testament stories. For example, while reading Noah portrayed as a misogynist predator was disturbing, it was comical (and took me off guard in the best way) to read this stoic, respectable character from my childhood being written in such a blasphemous way. I love King’s approach, and I think his Biblical stories should be exposed to more people so they can receive a lighthearted and challenging retelling of some stories those people may be used to.
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for your very insightful post. It was intriguing to understand the perspective of someone who grew up Catholic, and was exposed to the Genesis story, as I was not, and their take on the creation stories. My question for you is do you think the bible could have had a fighting chance if it became an oral tradition? Do you think their values of hierarchy, evil and good, and its cold structure could have been altered if it was not a written piece of work?
I’m wondering this because I personally would think that values that a story contains would hold true no matter who is telling it or when, even if the details change.
Thank you for your comment and question, Sashini! In my experience, the most engaging moments of a Catholic church service is the sermon, in which the priest orally relays a lesson from the Bible with some sort of personal anecdote. These sermons were always one of the most interesting part of service for me as they humanized the pastor as well made their teachings more relatable. While reading the Bible is not the most engaging way to digest stories and teachings for a lot of people, when these stories are blended into an oral retelling, they become approachable. These sermons also tend to be about current events, or a situation that happened recently in the priest’s life, so they are more contemporary than those in the Bible. I agree that some of the messages in the Bible are positive and universal, so I’m glad that there is an outlet for them, albeit even if the attitude behind them is still a bit stuffy.
Further, I believe that these structures (be that hierarchy of power or others) need to exist to maintain the essence of what is being taught; a lot of nuance is lost if core elements are forfeit. I think even if it could have been altered over time, it would not have been. I think the format of the Bible and Christian teachings are such for their reasons, and that includes being static in their foundations.
Hi Jacob! This post was super well done and the reflection really made me think. I love how you outlined the different tone of each story and specified how the clear hierarchy, themes of punishment/sin, and the position of power G-d has over the human race, which furthers the serious tone. My question for you is, with the themes present in the Old Testament origin story, (sin, punishment, obedience, hierarchy) how do you feel these themes could translate to the governance and regulation of societies that priorities these beliefs in their political systems? Ie. how these themes translate to the way people/society operate?
Hi Lauren,
Thank you! And thank you for your thoughtful response. Unfortunately, I believe religion has a huge influence on how society operates – in fact, religious doctrines are the foundation of much colonial society. By all means I believe citizens should be allowed to practice and express their faith regardless of sect (ensuring they are doing no harm to anyone), but to have a specific faith so fundamentally interwoven into how our cities and countries operate is problematic. Luckily, modern “Canada” sees much less of this than other countries (although Canada has and still does struggle with tolerance for people from faiths other than Christianity), but it will always be a problem until the issues are uprooted at their source. In a country that was built by settlers with such religious motivation, it will be a long time before we in “Canada” see complete religious freedom. To this day “us versus them” still plagues most of our culture; even our justice system reflects these Christian ethics of “good and evil.” I have faith one day these viewpoints will be lifted, but to get there we must be aware of the (sometimes invisible) structures in place that perpetuate an agenda that does not have the best interest of all.