Handout on ReEd 1
Initium Fidei: An Introduction to Doing Catholic Theology
Lesson 7 Shaping the World
INTRODUCTION
This lesson aims to introduce students to the examples of these narratives: myths, sagas, parables—
as narratives that build a perspective and understanding of the world, and help us locate ourselves
and our stories in that world.
NARRATIVES OF FAITH
1. MYTH -A traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or
explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings
or events.
1. First Creation Story - The historical context of the Priestly account of creation is the
Babylonian exile in the sixth century B.C. The exile was a devastating experience for Israel
politically and theologically.
2. Second Creation Story – The Yahwist Tradition reveals the biblical Israel’s appropriation
of royal ideology and its development and its development as a national identity. In the
face of the vast injustice faced during the time of David, Solomon and their sons, the
general Israelite populace began to question God concerning injustice and corruption.
ETIOLOGY- a story rich in symbolism that attempts to locate and give expression to the causes
of the present condition of the people.
The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and
care for it” (Genesis 2:15).
1. The human being is created in order to participate in the creative process. Every human
being must work on something, and thus, all human beings have a created purpose.
2. Human as a co-creator is in the naming of the animals
❑ Responsibility and accountability for creation has been given to man and the
obligation to care for all that has been given out of love and respect for those with
whom it is to be shared.
The Great Hamartiology
The purpose of the myth of the great hamartiology is to understand the reality of evil, which we
name SIN, by pointing out how, by nature, humanity is created good, but erred in a way that was
both personal and social and thus created a situation of evil called ORIGINAL SIN.
Hamartiology, a branch of Christian theology which is the study of sin, describes sin as an act
of offence against God by despising his persons and Christian biblical law, and by injuring others.
To sin essentially means to "miss the mark." We all miss God’s mark of righteousness (Romans 3:23).
Hamartiology, then, explains why we miss the mark, how we miss the mark, and the consequences of
missing the mark.
However, humanity will not forever be slave to sin. God will enter into human history in order to
save humanity from sin.
The Word Made Flesh
However, humanity will not forever be slave to sin. God will enter into human history in order to
save humanity from sin.
2. SAGA - Another example of a narrative of faith is the saga or legend. Sagas are stories that
give communities their identity.
Each community has its own stories of origin and direction which form their communal saga,
whether it be communities as small as families, or one or large as nations.
Well-known sagas in literature and popular culture
1. Harry Potter
2. Star Wars
3. Voltron
For Catholics, our sagas, particularly the ones we find in the Bible, help express to us
the great drama of salvation history, but it also shares with us a call to participate within
that history
1. The Saga of Exodus
2. The Saga of the United Monarchy
3. The Saga of the Exile
3. Parables
A Final example of a narrative of faith is the PARABLE. While a myth sets up a world and a saga
tells you that you have come to your proper place in community in that world and built your temple
in just the right place.
A Parable is the story that upsets the world
Parables are stories that destabilize other stories. Within the Christian Tradition, the most wellknown parables are the ones told by Jesus Christ.
These parables of Jesus have three important distinguishing characteristics and although these
characteristics hope to convey the disruptive message of Jesus.
The three characteristics of these parables are: earthiness, surprise and hyperbole
What is this disruptive message of Jesus found in the parables?
The message is the message of the KINGDOM OF GOD, but he described the kingdom
in parables
In what ways do we see the message of the KINGDOM in Parables
There are three distinct aspects of this message: ADVENT, REVERSAL and
DECISION
Why did Jesus’ use Parable?
1. To get his message without antagonizing His Audience
2. To Preserve the mystery of the Kingdom
3. To involve his audience
CONCLUSION
A good story has a potential to change our life. We have had our own experiences of
watching films or reading books that haunt us even after the final scene has ended. We
get inspired by the lives of the saints, whose fidelity is a testament to a life worth living.
Our imagination is animated when encountering the various stories in the Bible. Our
minds have an inherent capacity to think in terms of stories, to shape imaginatively our
experiences, our hopes and our memories, and shape them into narratives that give
purpose to our lives.
World-shaping narratives can all form our minds into an awareness of purpose and
meaning, and even shape our awareness of God in our lives. “Stories flesh out answers
to those crucial questions of faith: What do I live by ultimately? What is or are the
irreducible center(s) of value and source(s) of meaning in my life?” By reading and
listening to stories of people of faith that have come before us, we glimpse in some way
answers to these questions. World-shaping narratives reveal to us what to believe, how
to live in faith, and how a faithful person prays. These stories of faith are not beyond us,
but rather accompanying us, such that we come to an understanding of our own story
of faith
audience