By: Elmarie Parker on November 18, 2021
In my jet-lagged state of being tired but unable to sleep or focus on anything more substantive, I have watched a few movies. Two, serendipitously, have resonated with the themes explored by Akiko Busch in her book, How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency. In The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021),…
By: Troy Rappold on November 18, 2021
In Akiko Busch’s book, “How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency,” a step back is taken from the interconnected world and the ubiquitous feeling of the need to see and be seen in our online culture. Busch emphasizes in eleven chapters (which function more as eleven stand-alone essays), the importance of…
By: Nicole Richardson on November 18, 2021
“I feel trapped!” This was the only response I could muster amid a panic attack I had at 11,200 feet in the San Juan National Forest. It was two weeks in the making, that panic attack. I was one of nine students participating in a seminary class entitled An Adventure in Wilderness and Spirituality. Adventures…
By: Andy Hale on November 18, 2021
Just in case you needed to know, here is a fun fact: 93 million selfies are posted per day. [1] Since that report is coming from Google, specifically on data from Android devices, it merely reconfirms that big tech is watching us. What is our obsession with being seen? What motivates 93 million self-portraits to be posted…
By: Michael Simmons on November 17, 2021
The French social scientist, Roger Caillois once wrote that civilizations have existed without ploughs, wheels or leavers, but never without masks. [1] Akiko Busch’s memoir, How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency, weaves together images, metaphors and analogies, which leave the reader convinced of the need to seek invisibility in an increasingly…
By: Eric Basye on November 17, 2021
How to Disappear is a memoir written by author Akiko Busch. Taking the reader down an exciting journey, the author utilizes images in nature to challenge the concept of identity. In a time of social media and self-marketing, modern culture leads us to believe that to be seen is to be known, and in being…
By: Mary Kamau on November 14, 2021
One of the greatest mistakes quoted in missions, is cases of missionaries assuming that they can impose their ideas in a cross-cultural context, understanding the culture is key to working in a new culture. Joseph Campbell is a literature scholar and professor of mythology whose works reflect more of comparative mythology. His book, ‘The Hero…
By: Elmarie Parker on November 12, 2021
Every hero receives a call, an urging into action. Joseph Campbell describes it as “The Call to Adventure” in his heroic epic Hero with a Thousand Faces.[1] A specialty under the Philosophy, Psychology, Religion umbrella, Hero is classified as Comparative Mythology with a Philosophical Literature orientation. Campbell masterfully explores cultures from both the Occident and…
By: Henry Gwani on November 11, 2021
The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a classic that integrates mythology with psychology and philosophy to discuss heroism. Building on the remarkable contributions of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and other respected psychologists, Campbell argues that “ by entering and transforming the personal psyche, the surrounding culture, the life of the family, one’s relational work,…
By: Jonathan Lee on November 11, 2021
In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell presents stories and imageries of different myths from all over the world. Joseph Campbell’s lifelong passion for comparative mythology is extensively demonstrated in this book. The book is divided into three parts, prologue – the monomyth, part I – the adventure of the hero,…
By: Michael Simmons on November 11, 2021
I learned of Joseph Campbell through his 1988 PBS special, The Power of Myth, which details in expansive description how myths support, transform and renew the world and human experience. Campbell defines myth as an organization of symbolic images, which metaphorically communicate the possibilities of the human experience and fulfillment within a given culture. [1]…
By: Nicole Richardson on November 11, 2021
Who is your hero? Who is mine? Our choice illuminates the battles we choose to fight. It also reveals the deep yearnings we have for purpose, belonging, and hope in better world. Good prevailing over evil, it’s the human yearning. We cheer for the underdog. We sit on the edge of our seats hoping against…
By: Roy Gruber on November 11, 2021
What do Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Neo of The Matrix, and the Blues Brothers have in common? Author Joseph Campbell pioneered anthropological and sociological research producing the premise that diverse fictional hero tales share the monomyth or, in other words, all heroic stories tell the same tale. “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” a work…
By: Troy Rappold on November 11, 2021
In his magnum opus, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” Joseph Campbell reveals the common elements of the Hero’s Journey found in the world’s religions and mythologies. Campbell asserts that many teachings found in religion and mythology have become distorted and therefore lost their essential truths. Campbell wants to “uncover some of the truths disguised…
By: Andy Hale on November 11, 2021
Throughout oral and written storytelling, the most widely favored tales follow the hero’s journey, whether the story is about Gilgamesh, Skywalker, Alice Kingsleigh, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Elizabeth Bennet, Dorothy, or Bilbo Baggins. In Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” the comparative mythologist defines a hero as someone who has given themselves over…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on November 10, 2021
Myth: noun a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature. any invented story, idea, or concept. an imaginary or fictitious…
By: Eric Basye on November 10, 2021
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, written by author Joseph Campbell, is deeply intertwined with elements of psychology and mythology and serves as a comparative analysis of the hero narrative. Breaking the narrative into three stages – departure, initiation, and return – Campbell differentiates these stages into 17 steps. As stated by the author, the…
By: Mary Kamau on November 7, 2021
Eve Poole is a leadership associate in Ashbridge Business School, an author and theologian. She gives a fresh approach to leadership development in her book, Leadersmithing.[1] Leadership development is supposed to be a more precise ‘science’ of preparing leaders to be precisely job-ready and more effectively resourced for the challenges they face, which should result…
By: Mary Kamau on November 6, 2021
Simon Walker is a Christian author and teaches Leadership at Oxford University and trains social leaders in corporate, educational and Not for profit organizations in the UK. He draws his thoughts of leadership from the life and death of Jesus, leadership which places exercise of vulnerability and self-emptying at its summit rather than strength and…
By: Elmarie Parker on November 4, 2021
I enjoy reading well-researched historical fiction. To see a particular period of time and cultural context through the experiences of a cast of characters helps me to get a feel for life in that era—the common human challenges and joys and the elements that forge a person’s or community’s character. It gives me a different…
