Classic stories and epics reach deep into our hearts to connect with timeless themes and call us to greater hopes and dreams.

Qualities of a classic

For a literary work to become a classic, it must have at least two, often three different layers of meaning.    For example, the classic shipwreck tale Robinson Crusoe had three layers woven throughout the book:

• What was happening to Crusoe and what he was doing.
• What Crusoe was thinking at the moment.
• Crusoe’s present commentary on what he was thinking and doing.

Some of Crusoe’s commentary back in the 1719 included insights about the nature of religion and the Church that are as poignant 300 years later as they were when first penned by author Daniel Defoe.

The classic children’s book Winnie the Pooh contains similar layers.  It’s the story of a father telling made-up stories to his son, and talking about the stories to his son in the process, and thus we have stories within stories that capture the imagination.

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

C.S. Lewis

What makes an epic

Epic stories go further, anchoring their themes across multiple generations.  Did you know that there is a 4-cycle, 80-to-100-year generational pattern that finds its way into every stable civilization, and into every fairy tale and epic story that has multiple generations?

If we define a generation by the length of time it takes a child to reach adulthood — about 20-25 years — we can see this pattern in US history since World War II.   (I learned this pattern from a book called The Fourth Turning by Strauss & Howe.)

Each generation has a prototype:

Heroes — those that fought WWII we still call the Greatest Generation.  Can’t get any more heroic than that.

Artists — the Builder generation, the younger brothers and sisters of those returning from battle, never could live up to that heroic reputation.  So they simply sought to fit in, and filled society with bureaucrats and artistic-minded beatniks that gave us the 1950s.

Prophets — the Baby Boomers were handed a stable, prosperous society.  But underneath the veneer they saw many evils that they were compelled to tackle head-on.  Whether hippies or Jesus People, they challenged the status quo with a distinctly prophetic voice, promoting “love” and seeking to save the planet from racism, nuclear war and environmental devastation.

Nomad — Generation X was a group of latchkey kids who grew up to be first Yuppies and then helicopter parents when they realized Dan Quayle was right, and rejected the idealism of the Boomers that was too busy changing the world instead of taking care of their families.

In the Secular Cycle, this Nomad (Lost) Generation is often typified by merchants and mercenaries who raise or mentor the next generation of heroes.

Eventually a crisis hits, and every generation has a role.  The prophets are the elder statesmen, the lost generation are generals, and the heroes are fighting the battles.  The artist generation are the innocents being protected at home.

Epic adults and epic children

The main characters in adult-centered epic stories are typically a hero or prophet.

The main characters in children-centered epic stories are usually from the artist or nomad/lost generation.

The Secular Cycle in the Bible

This 100-year cycle is historically called a Secular Cycle — from the Latin word saecularis meaning generation or age — and it was even recognized by Greek and Roman historians.  Eventually, theology took “secular” to mean the “this current worldly age”, so now, with linguistic irony, I get to explain how we find the Secular Cycle in the Bible.

The stories of Moses (prophet) and David (hero) illustrate two secular cycles.  Note the order:

• Prophet = Moses
• Nomad/Lost = children of Israel wandering in the desert (Joshua and Caleb)
• Hero = children raised in the desert, entering the promised land
• Artists = settling the land

We see the same cycle in the first monarchs of Israel, many decades later:

• Prophet = Samuel
• Nomad/Lost = King Saul
• Hero = King David
• Artist = King Solomon

Those were examples I found in Scripture after pondering whether the secular cycle might be something worth considering as wisdom.

The Secular Cycle in fairy tales

The epic fairy tales that inspired the classic Disney animations contain a timeless cycle of generations, which makes them immediately accessible and linked to a greater pattern we all know subconsciously.  The characteristics of each generation are clear and predictable, whether the characters are good or evil.

Children’s stories focused on the Lost Generation always have a theme of self-discovery, which is necessary because social structures have broken down.

In Cinderella we find the generational characters in exactly the expected order:

• Prophet = wicked stepmother, fairy godmother
• Nomad/lost = Cinderella
• Heroes = the little guys, mice and other characters who will pull the carriage

It’s the same with Snow White:

• Prophet = the queen, fairy godmother
• Nomad/Lost = Snow White
• Heroes = the little guys, the seven dwarfs

With Pinocchio, we see the other end of the generational cycle.  With stories set in the Artist Generation, the theme is conformity with social and moral standards.

• Hero = Geppetto, the loving father
• Artist = Pinocchio
• Prophet = the little guy, Jiminy Cricket

A long time ago in a galaxy far away…

Even Star Wars contains the epic generational cycle.  Well at least the first three released did (now called IV, V and VI).  Whether on purpose or not, George Lucas nailed it.

• Prophet = Obi Wan, Darth Vader
• Nomad/Lost = Han Solo (merchant turned reluctant general)
• Hero = Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia
• Artist = the little guy R2D2, bureaucratic C3PO

The epic nature of subsequent Star Wars releases, or lack thereof, remains to be seen.

American Revolution

The generations of the American Revolution illustrate the same cycle:

• Prophet = Ben Franklin (remember his speech in the continental congress?)
• Nomad/Lost = George Washington (merchant turned reluctant general)
• Hero = Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence)
• Artist = Lewis & Clark, charting the new land

Looking forward

Not everyone buys the Strauss–Howe generational theory, as you can see by reading the analysis in Wikipedia.  But I tend to believe that it’s a valuable analysis, given how many different places we can see the pattern, including in the multi-generational stories of Scripture.

History is guided by the hand of God, not a cyclical determinism, so we do not want to fall into magical thinking like so many do who incorrectly look to astrology or other mystical cycles for explanations of human behavior.

I do think this secular cycle illustrates how generations can adopt certain rhythmic patterns due to human nature.  This can be explained by the generational impact of children being alternately over-protected and over-neglected, and an alternating cycle of social renewal and spiritual renewal.

How differently raised children respond as adults does produce different outcomes, as different as the eventual outcomes of World War I and World War II.

If the analysis of Strauss and Howe is correct, then the Millennial Generation is poised to be the next hero generation.  They do seem to be a group of young people who are ready for great teamwork, who are idealistic … but have no clear idea what to be idealistic about.

We who are slightly older — I’m a Generation Xer — have the responsibility to mentor the next generation.  If a crisis comes, we may be called into action as generals, which I can say with fair certainty is one of the last things my generation is interested in doing.  But, like Han Solo (and George Washington), we’ll probably be ready and will do a surprisingly decent job at it.

Regarding diversity, to my fellow Christians:  get used to it.

Take this statement in the most positive, encouraging sense.  Social diversity is the destiny of history, and God declares it a good thing, the very context of Eternal celebration:

After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They were shouting out in a loud voice,

“Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And all the angels stood there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground before the throne and worshiped God, saying,

“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Revelation 7:9-12

What’s more, God is not interested in us waiting until eternity to begin embracing unity in diversity.

For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. If they were all the same member, where would the body be? So now there are many members, but one body.  The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential,  and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it.

Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

We live in a social climate where political divisions and enmity are manipulated according to race, economic status and gender.  For 2000 years now, these are precisely the lines of division that Christians have been commanded to disavow.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female – for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

If this is the wisdom of God, such wisdom would reap earthly benefits in the workforce.  Numerous articles and research projects speak to The Economic Benefits of Diversity.  Research confirms that:

• There are both costs and benefits to diversity.
• The costs are often short-term and the benefits long-term.
• Diversity yields more innovation and more thoughtful decision-making.

It takes hard work and creativity to effectively bridge a culture gap, and those ingredients just happen to be the ingredients for success.

Jesus showed surprising respect

During Jesus’ day, Jews avoided going through Samaria.  And for good reason — for centuries, the worst things in Israel came from the sinfulness epitomized by Samaritans, those half-breed idolatrous compromisers of the faith that brought God’s judgement heavy upon them when they were carted off to slavery in Assyria and Babylon until they repented.  In fact, much of what motivated the Pharisees into a deep focus on religious laws was to never again be like those filthy Samaritans.  Don’t think like those Samaritans! Don’t act like those Samaritans!  Stay away from them!

Imagine Jesus’ disciples’ surprise when Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:4).  He shocked more people when they stopped on the journey.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. )  So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

John 4: 7-9

Especially because Samaritans —  a woman with a reputation no less — were considered second-class citizens, Jesus’ treatment of this woman as a person worthy of dignity and respect stands out in sharp contrast to the social and moral expectations of his day.

Keep reading John 4.  There’s a whole lot more.

Respect and honor does not mean moral compromise

Jesus did not compromise on theological or ethical topics.  He did not dodge controversies such as religious truth or standards of behavior.  The Samaritans’ false religion was still false, and the woman’s trail of broken marriages was still a pile of brokenness.  But he didn’t pile on.

She felt honored and respected by this man who accepted her despite her racial, religious, and moral alienation. This was a man she found worth promoting — could he be the Messiah? — and many of the townspeople of Sychar began following Jesus.

This is the challenge we face as Christians today.

Can we empathize with others so different from us?  Can we honor, respect, and value them, and seek our common humanity?

Can we not reject those whose moral failures seem repugnant to us?  Can we respond with compassion, recognizing their sense of alienation is already stronger than we realize.

Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”  So they left the town and began coming to him.

John 4:27-30

There is something shocking, even scandalous, about showing respect across the diversity divides.  It’s also incredibly winsome and inviting.  Just like Jesus.

The Industrial Revolution, Political Revolution, and the Reformation were inseparably intertwined, as the familiar “natural order of things” — aristocracy and serfdom — was replaced with:

• Middle class:  a literate workforce, and middle managers.
• Representative government: every monarch became a figurehead or lost their head.
• The priesthood of all believers

Industrial Imperatives

Every country with any wealth or power had no choice — go through the transformation, or get taken over by a wealthier, more powerful neighbor.  When the transformation was complete, a more egalitarian, informed, and connected society emerged, with four new institutions in place that did not exist just a few decades earlier but now in every powerful nation:

• The post office
• Railroads
• Public schools
• A representative government where selected leaders governed from a central location

It was a bloody revolution in every case, but countries informed by the Reformation were far less bloody.  Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities supremely illustrates the revolution in London, England contrasted with Paris, France.  It’s vivid and stomach-churning.  As with France, so it was also with every country that attempted a “godless” revolution.  “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” turned into horrific vengeance and bloodshed.  China and Russia emerged from their transformation with tens of millions dead, and though the four institutions were in place, it was a bloodbath.

The United States, with our own Civil War where a single battle at Gettysburg consumed more lives than the entire Vietnam conflict, had a relatively peaceful transformation.  But — necessary to eliminate slavery– the transformation was a survival imperative for the country.  Industrialization and the move toward egalitarianism must win.  By the grace of God, the Christian character of the country preserved it from even further carnage.  This despite a character warped and twisted with the horror and injustices of slavery.

From Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address:

The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Lincoln was quoting Psalm 19:9 (KJV).

As these revolutionary principles continued to take root, Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently captured the deepening sentiment:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

Dr. King paraphrased Isaiah 40:4-5, as he commonly drew inspiration and quotations from the prophets of Scripture.

Divine Grace through Turmoil

Jesus Christ described his followers as “the salt of the earth” and “light of the world”.  His statements prophetically described the role of his followers through the turmoil, and both were evident in the mindset and deeds of the Protestant Reformation.

William Tyndale’s printing press — intended to publish the Bible in native languages rather than just the elite Latin tongue — paved the way for universal literacy.  Literacy would become a requirement for industrialization where middle managers and an educated workforce must run factories and global supply chains.  It also is one of the pillars of self-government, along with moral character.  Thus literacy shone the light of wisdom on those who would need both knowledge and character to navigate the transition.

Martin Luther’s rallying cry of the priesthood of all believers promoted individuals relating directly to God with accountability and authority.  This positive regard and embrace of personal authority shifted the focus of political revolution. Instead of simply blaming the current leaders and exercising revenge, it was a call to personal responsibility.  As salt preserves food from spoiling, this mindset preserved the nations who had the sense to turn toward God instead of away from Him during this violent transformation that took over half a million lives in the United States alone.  It was far better than for those countries who turned away from God and lost tens of millions of lives.

Leadership as Service

Coloring the Protestant Reformation’s influence on political and industrial revolutions was the language of Christianity regarding leadership.

But Jesus called them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25-27

Because wisdom is available by God’s grace to all who observe and reflect, this was not the first time leaders had been called to serve.

From Tao-te Ching, a sixth century B.C. work of Lao-tsu:

A leader is best
When people barely know that he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him.
“Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you”:
But of a good leader, who talks little,
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
They will all say, “We did this ourselves.”

cited in “The Origins of Servant Leadership” by Donald Valeri

Throughout history, this perspective has been the rare exception.  Rulers throughout time have taken titles of “king”, “sovereign”, “potentate”, “magistrate” and other terms indicating authority, power, and magnificence.  However, Jesus’ followers embraced a new vocabulary, as illustrated by the Apostle Paul:

 Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation because it is God’s servant for your well-being. 

(Romans 13:3-4)

Authority as God’s servant.  This is revolutionary indeed.  The word “servant” is sometimes translated “minister”, which is derived from the Latin word for (you guessed it) “servant”.

Over the centuries, this language embedded into the very structures of governments in countries where Christianity had influence:

Minister of Defense
Minister of Education
Minister of Finance

All servants.

The very structure of governments couldn’t help but be transformed, once the concept took root.

Servant Leadership in Business

A couple centuries later the language of servanthood re-emerged in the vernacular, within the world of business.   In 1970, Robert K. Greanleaf published an essay titled “The Servant as Leader” which sent business leadership into a new way of thinking.

Servant leadership as a concept has taken root in businesses transforming to handle the new information economy.  Where teams must be extremely effective, leaders must be servants.

Today a popular framework for teams developing new products and services with agility is called Scrum.  In the Scrum Guide, the key role of Scrum Master is defined:

The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.

Next month our local Boise State University is offering a class called  “Becoming a Servant Leader”.   This month, a professional Community of Practice I’m part of declared “agile servant leaders” to be in its target audience.

Servant leadership is becoming a good idea, a mandatory principle for virtue and happiness, and also for success.

Most people don’t realize that since World War II, the average human life span is longer and the risk of violent death is lower than any time in history.   The structural influences of the Industrial, Political, and Protestant Reformations have much to do with this.  With the constant temptation of leaders to become bombastic, hubris-filled, greedy, antagonistic power brokers, may the tribe of servant leadership increase, in a triumph of humility.

The glory days of ancient Israel came during the reign of King David and King Solomon.  Though far from perfect, the nation was unified and led by “a man after God’s own heart”.   But before this unified kingdom were  years … decades … centuries of turmoil, uncertainty, fickle vain leaders, and intense conflict.

1 Chronicles 12:32 From Issachar there were 200 leaders and all their relatives at their command – they understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

In preparation to crown David the king, each tribe had thousands or more warriors and leaders coming together.  Read 1 Chronicles 12; it’s an impressive list.  Hundreds of thousands of trained warriors, carrying shields, spears and myriad weapons.  Yet the most impressive description is reserved for the smallest group:  just 200 leaders from the tribe Issachar.

They understood the times.

During dramatic transitions, it’s difficult to see over the horizon.  What’s coming next?  Amidst the great crowds of clueless people and opportunists changing sides, we find a few observant, reflective people who can clearly picture what’s coming.  Was it thoughtfulness?  Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit?  Conversations among the wise at the town gates?  I imagine so.

They knew what their nation should do.

Seeing big changes coming is one thing.  Knowing how to prepare is another.  Add respect from others ready to follow that preparation into action — props to the band of 200 from Issachar.