[UA] Parables, Archetypes and the yellow brick road

[Tim Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: Timothy Ferguson <ferguson at beyond.net.au>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: [UA] Parables, Archetypes and the yellow brick road

> So?  Lots of things can be read on more than one level, and parables have
> been around for a very long time.

I recall hearing John Cleese do a book reading in Shakespeare and Co., in
New York, where he prefaced the reading by voicing his incredulity at the
notion of American Fundamentalism, that the Bible is Absolutely 100% True.
He points out that Jesus, arguably the greatest teacher ever, knew his
audience very well.  He knew that if he told them to DON'T DO THAT! (like
his dad did), they'd run out and do it, just for spite and giggles.
Instead, he couched the lessons in little stories, and allowed the smart
readers to infer the meaning, and even explained it for the slow ones in the
back.  So, given that the Greatest Teacher Ever knew better than to go all
literal on the crowd, wouldn't his father do the same, ESPECIALLY if he was
talking through a burning bush?

ObUA:  Finished reading Declare.  Has very little to do with the UAniverse.
Pretty neat, though.


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