The Higher Road

Authentic v's Inauthentic Story

I came across this interesting statement in an article here. It comes from a speech given by Barry Lopez, an author and story teller from Oregon (USA), who was in Perth recently giving a series of talks.

...The distinction in prose between fiction and nonfiction, though logical and even useful, is not as important as the distinction between an authentic and an inauthentic story. An authentic story is about us. An inauthentic story is about the story teller, only the story teller.

The problem I have with this is that when you engage with the Story of God, you discover that it is simultaneously about the author and us. However, it got me thinking about the motive behind why we tell stories... and in particular God's Story.