The term “myth” is often used as a synonym for fable, or to describe a story as untrue or unreal. For Niebuhr, however, “myth” describes language that relates the time-bound to the eternal and the finite to the infinite. Myth, in other words, was that category of language that enabled us to understand God and humanity as related. For language to accomplish this purpose, it had to take us beyond the rules of rational consistency.
