The Christian's Joyful Duty of Storytelling

The conservatives want to keep the truth of the propositions, unencumbered by any troublesome questions about whether it actually happened or not But when we separate them like this, they both die. Liberals love story, but they cannot tell it any more because they have gutted it. Conservatives love abstracted truths, but they can't defend them anymore because truth without a body has no immune system.

We must meditate on the example given to us in the book God gave to us. There we learn to honor the power of the narrative, throughout the course of much of both the Old and New Testaments. And the preeminent preacher and teacher was, of course, our Lord Jesus. And how did he teach? The answer is that He taught overwhelmingly by means of parables--short stories. Why is this so rarely imitated?

We therefore have a responsibility (as Christians seeking to be faithful to God and His holy Word) to learn how to tell stories. We must do this so that we can repeat the story, for those who have not yet heard it. And we must also do this so that we can tell lesser stories, stories that revolve around the great story, and which derive their glory from it.

--Douglas Wilson