SanghaToday Blog

Storytelling is a very ancient way of getting people interested and influenced by your viewpoint. We have, a very perfect example of this capability of storytelling in Biblical accounts as well as other religious scriptures. Generally, stories are very engaging for the younger children. This is the reason that many books for children such as ‘Jesus for children’ and ‘Jesus in me’ are seen in the church resources. These books are narrative compilations of Biblical events written in the form of stories for children.

Storytelling can be regarded as a very creative way of communication. The basic concept behind a story is to convey an idea, a point, awareness or a message in a more engaging way. The stories incorporated certain influential aesthetics which drew, an audience to imagine themselves as an element or character of the story. Although, people regard storytelling as man’s innate capability or impulse, other consider it an upshot of man’s natural desire of being respected or prasied on their triumph. The latter theory of storytelling as a desire secondary to human nature is proven more true as the oldest accounts of storytelling were descriptions of fact rather than fiction. However, this statement still does not completely define storytelling, as we have seen it evolve greatly all through the history, and along did the purpose and desires behind it.

Strangely enough, the very first evidence of man’s use of creativity and imagination as a form of communication dates back to the primitive era of about 35,000 years ago. The astonishing discovery of Aboriginal cave paintings revealed, a fascinating account of a hunt in the form of visual slideshow. This was perhaps man’s first endeavor to show off his supremacy and victory. Many other examples of such factual events in the form of paintings and carvings are discovered dating back to the primate’s world.

Later on, as the civilizations started to build up, we observe a very powerful association between religious beliefs and stories. The stories became so powerful that people actually began to regard the myths as Gods. In Ancient Egypt, while the hieroglyphs tell the stories of bravery, greatness and immortality of the kings, they also provide a very detailed description of Gods and the life after death. In ancient Rome, Greek, China and India the stories took a very fictional and supernatural forms and these myths ultimately became the gods.

regardless of being being fictional, these myths were so powerful because they focused on on strong ideals and moralities and were more like a code for human conduct. It was in the same period when the stage became a major story telling medium. This tradition lived on and took a huge global exposure in the times of Shakespeare, whose stories were also a criticism on the evils of society. The Shakespeare method of storytelling is consider as the basic plot of modern story telling. The only difference is the media which moved the way through paintings, narrations, literature, theatre and then electronic media. Films and dramas are perhaps the most common medium of storytelling today, none of the ancient forms has died out yet. This is how we can suppose that no matter what came next, storytelling will always be there.