Story vs. History

I am about a third of the way through Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment; it's a very long document! (Here's a link to the English version on the Vatican website, if you want to read it.¹)

I find I agree with some of what the Pope is saying, but what really jumped out at me was a comment he makes on the value of story. He's discussing the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and of Noah when he says:

“These ancient stories, full of symbolism, bear witness to a conviction which we today share, that everything is interconnected, and that genuine care for our own lives and our relationships with nature is inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others.”

Please note that Francis openly calls these episodes in the Bible “stories,” not histories. And Francis emphasizes the importance of the symbolism in these stories. These episodes are stories because they contain symbolism, a literary motif, whereas histories largely do not—they just report the facts. Also, because of the symbolism in these “ancient stories,” we can share in the meaning of the stories, even though they were first told so many years ago. Symbolism tends toward universal understanding, whereas fact is often specifically local. A person of any faith or of none could understand the symbolism of these stories.

Symbols are images with many associated meanings and values; in that sense they are akin to metaphors, though metaphors have a more restricted relationship between image and meaning. Think of the American flag, which is a concrete image—in our imaginations we can see it, touch it, hear it flapping in the wind. To a patriot, this image is a symbol because it conveys thoughts and feelings of patriotism and respect, of the history of this country, of bloody sacrifice for freedom, and more—all abstract ideas that find an expression in the image of the flag. But our America flag is also a symbol to radical Muslims, though in a very different way. Some of them think of imperialism, violence, aggression, and even the devil when they look at the American flag. So, our flag is a symbol with multiple meanings, depending on who is looking at it but also even within one person looking at it.

For biblical literalists, the story of Noah can be nothing but fact; it is history, not fiction. Despite the fact that many religions and cultures over the course of human history have generated flood stories, some people have looked and are still searching for Noah's ark—the remains of an actual wooden vessel. For these people, this historical event happened once and allows us a limited set of interpretations. But if we see the ark as a symbol, then we have many more possible interpretations that are available to us now and in the future. An ark is a vessel that floats on water; in this story it floats on water that God sent to destroy almost all life on the earth. So, an ark enables its passengers to survive death and destruction of a great magnitude. Sometimes a person (of any time and any culture) will experience radically threatening events in her life or even just in her mind. The story of Noah, if we know it, can help her to find an ark of another sort to get through the chaos and desolation. The ark and the water are images that, when held in the mind and pondered, allow us to conceive of surviving catastrophe. That's one universal symbolic reading, and I haven't even discussed the animals!

When conceivably the most powerful religious leader on the planet speaks of biblical events as stories containing symbolism, rather than literal histories, we should listen. If we don't start thinking symbolically, metaphorically about the world we live in, if we continue to ignore the suffering we inflict upon other living beings in our world because we are so caught up in abstract ideas of profit and superiority, we might just not survive the flood of negative environmental events to come.

1“Encyclical Letter 'Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home,” news.va, 18 June 2015:

http://www.news.va/en/news/laudato-si-the-integral-text-of-pope-francis-encyc