A Tolkien tid bit

"Myths are not lies," Tolkien countered, among the swaying trees of Magdalen Grove. Materialistic progress leads only to the abyss, Tolkien said, but the myths we tell reflect a fragment of the true light. He argued the Christ story functions as a myth, just like the Scandinavian myths they had loved, with one difference: The Christian myth was true.

QUOTE:
"The Christian myth was true."

An oxymoron?

A myth is a figment of one's imagination. Oh my! as I consider this phrase my brain gets all forhuddled*. Think I will go do something else.

Have a good day!

*forhuddled - a PA Dutch word meaning confused. Spelling may be wrong - I wrote it out phonetically.

I got a little "forfhuddled" also as I was reading. I just got the impression that what Tolkien was saying was that a lot of stories of old etc. have been written pertaining to overcoming etc. which have happy endings and the like. He was obviously a reader of these stories of lore and drew from them yet the point he was making in what I read was that the story of Christ's incarnation, death and resurrection was true - based on actual facts.

I looked up the definition of myth and it had a somewhat different definition that what one normally thinks of when they think of the word myth. But I'm sorry for any confusion.

Thanks.

I looked up the definition of myth and it had a somewhat different definition that what one normally thinks of when they think of the word myth.

I can vouch for you here. The word "myth" has lost its original meaning by its popular usage. Thanks for clarifying.

Diane