I have a great new friend, and in the process of get to know each other, she has been condensing portions of her life story into what she calls “Reader’s Digest versions,” as do I, and we return, and will, to share details. Life is about the stories, of course, not their titles. I have come to appreciate, in literature and not only in conversations, that the gift of revelation is in storytelling, but the gift of self-revelation is in our choice of labels, titles, and summaries.
So – setting aside, here, the conversations with a friend, but in larger senses – I have been thinking about the codes we use, whether short stories tell about great narratives, or a phrase can represent great truths. A major risk we face is “reductio ad absurdum”: oversimplification. I have observed, in the Christian context, that some churches today “reduce” certain messages of God to, in effect, present the Six Commandments (or so) instead of 10; or, worse yet, repackage what is effectively the “10 Options.” Or, you know, Jesus’ “Suggestions From the Mount.”
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