Faith-full Stories: The Narrative Road to Religion

T.D. Regehr is a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan and
the author of The Beauharnois Scandal: A Story of Entrepreneurship and
Politics.

Religious truths, convictions, and insights are often conveyed through
stories, myths, and legends. The greatest religious teachers and leaders
were almost always master storytellers, and John C. Hoffman, who has
taught for more than 30 years in either a Religious Studies department
or a theological college, and who is himself an excellent storyteller,
has reproduced a mature, scholarly, and carefully thought-out treatise
on storytelling as a crucial part of religious teaching. Interspersed
with scholarly discussions are short stories, drawn from various
religious traditions, that illustrate the points being made. Hoffman’s
purpose and approach is clearly expressed in the book’s concluding
sentence: “The word ‘God’ points to a mystery transcending all
conceptualizations. To forget this is to seek security in our own
cleverness, in our theology rather than in God, however envisioned ...
We seek ultimate truth but can never be sure we have found it. We are
destined to live by faith, not by sight. By sharing our stories, we can
exercise that courage in a quest for enlightenment with others who also
seek the truth.”