Augustine said that "A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature." Walking this morning/afternoon, I had the joy of seeing nature coming back to life, and I thought of the story of Persephone. The truth in the story is stunningly profound for a pagan culture without any knowledge of Christ and only a very limited knowledge of Israel and their God. The myth's truth is triune (obviously; isn't everything Christian triune?): the redemption of mankind, the life of Christ, and the individual struggle of each Christian with sin. We'll look at these in reverse order.
To start, a brief overview of the myth: Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest and vitality. One day, as she's wandering the earth, Hades (god of the underworld) catches sight of her and falls madly in love with her. So he does what every man who's in love with a woman does (not), he kidnaps her and takes her to the underworld. In the underworld, Persephone is married to Hades and unwisely eats the fruit there, thereby preventing her from ever leaving her new home. Demeter, having had her joy taken from her, allows every living plant on earth to die. When everybody starts to starve Zeus decides that this cannot happen and demands that Demeter bring the plants back to life. Demeter refuses to do so until her daughter is returned to her. So Zeus sends Hermes to Hades and tells him to fix it. Hades, Hermes, and Demeter finally work out a deal: Persephone will spend six months in the underworld, and the other six months will be spent with her mother who, while her daughter remains on earth, will graciously provide life (and thus food for humanity). These six months are spring and summer, and the other six are fall and winter.
Now, how does this apply to Christianity and the Christian faith? Let's take a look. Firstly, it is the story of each individual man and his sin. We are in a perpetual cycle: we began in communion with God, yet sin snatches us and tears us away, and now we are married to sin and death. It will (and does) kill us. Yet God redeems us, bringing us back to him and returning his life to us! But we, like unfaithful Israel, constantly return to our sin, never managing to escape it. Just as Persephone is perpetually returned to her mother, however, we, the prodigal sons, are also returned to our Heavenly Father and life is granted again.
Secondly, in the life of Christ. As part of the trinity, Christ lives in perfect community with the Father and the Spirit. Our sin forces him to go below (first to earth, and ultimately to hell) just as Persephone did, and he is killed. Death overtakes him for a moment. But he does not remain there, he lives, and ascends, and serves the role of High Priest, essentially causing God to grant life to humanity! Reunited with his Son, life happens again. In the same way, Persephone's reunion with her mother causes her joy enough to provide life to the world for six months.
Finally, in the story of redemption as a whole. Again, man begins his life in perfect communion with God, but is torn away from his grace by sin, and the world falls (ha!) into the darkness and death that is winter. But in the depths of humanity's spiritual winter, Christ comes. This is the beauty of celebrating Christmas on December twenty-fifth (even though it isn't the actual date of Christ's birth): in the darkness of sin, and in the darkest hour of winter, Christ comes to redeem a fallen mankind. And in the spring, Christ is crucified and resurrected! Life comes to mankind, just as it comes to the world in the spring. Persephone serves as a Christ-figure in this tale, suffering death in the underworld before returning, bearing with her life for the world.
So I think Augustine might be right (might be). Even in the pagan myth of Persephone, the glory of God shines: inescapable, unavoidable, and absolute. And spring is freaking awesome.
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