Unintended messages
For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which
includes Keim's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine
and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.
Those of us who no longer live in oral cultures may have
lost respect for storytelling as a vehicle of moral authority. Just give us the
facts, ma'am. We're data people, and we like it in writing. For us the
parabolic arts may be fine entertainment, but they're an unnecessarily messy
way of getting at the truth.
Yet all language can really do is tell stories. Words are
the silk with which we spin out endless patterns of meaning--penultimate
absolutes. The power of a good story may transcend the intentions of even the
storyteller.
