The Hero’s Journey, and a twist
Luke Skywalker. That name and that story probably arranged more of the furniture in my young mind than any other hero’s story. As I grew older, married, and had children, there were many other “similar” adventures to invade the life of our growing family. The Princes Bride, The Matrix, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit. All of these had become institutions among the household stories found throughout the Vaughn home. Their books, videos, action figures, and thematic decorations took up way more space than they probably should have.
Little did I know how much these tales bore resemblance to the way so many other stories of adventure had been told throughout history.
But why were these stories so intriguing? Better yet, why had I not seen them through the lens of the hero’s multi-stage adventure, common to every heroic tale as explained by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with A Thousand Faces? Yet there it was, possibly staring at me all along, hidden in plain sight: The hero’s journey and that journey’s ubiquitous path.
“Campbell was fascinated with the ways in which all myths told what he called ‘the one great story of mankind.’”[1] It’s this universal nature of the hero’s journey that intrigues me. It intrigues me because of the way he describes it as a basis for so many heroic stories throughout history. So, here’s where my mind went as I read about Campbell’s monomyth…
Similar to the way in which the universal hero’s story-arc helped George Lucas to “focus what (he) had already been doing intuitively”[2] in crafting Star Wars, I would suggest a storied reading of the Bible could help the reader make sense of where one fits in what N.T. Wright has called “the true story of the whole world.”[3]
In graduate school, I was introduced to a redemptive-historical way of approaching Scripture. Until that time, I had not really considered reading the Bible through the lens of a creation-fall-redemption construct (some theological traditions add restoration and/or consummation to the mix). And truthfully, though I may have argued to the contrary, I’m quite sure I came to seminary with a proclivity to read or teach Scripture as a collection “of little bits—theological bits, moral bits, historical-critical bits, sermon bits, (and/or) devotional bits.”[4] In some ways, after being introduced to a more storied approach to the Bible, I felt like I had a new handle to grasp a more all-encompassing gospel. I remember that I encountered this “new” (new-to-me) lens – a redemptive-historical plotline of the Bible – in some ways like I encountered Campbell’s work this week. It was a sort of threshold concept[5] for me. I could never go back and view scripture as I had in the past, just as I am not going to be able to read or watch J.K. Rowling’s hero – Harry Potter – ever again without paying more attention to where Harry is along the universal story of the hero.
There’s this other part of Campbell’s “universal story” that echoes of something else. Who knows how much of Campbell’s road map was informed by a deeper, older narrative. But like you and me, Campbell too was made in God’s image, seeking to make sense of the “why” behind the way in which great stories were told. Consider this summary of the universal hero’s journey, as described by Campbell: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”[6] This may be a stretch, so forgive me for perhaps taking too much liberty, but consider the points of convergence (and divergence) between these plotlines…
- As image bearers, humans were placed in a garden – a “wild” place that was meant to be tended/cultivated creatively for God’s glory, our joy, the good of God’s creation, and in the service of others. (“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder”[7])
- Humanity then falls and sin enters the picture like a virus. Rather than cooperating with the human project, creation fights back (thorns and thistles) and human flourishing suffers. (“fabulous forces are there encountered”[8])
- God graciously doesn’t leave his good creation to be utterly destroyed, however. He sends his son, the Christ, to redeem…to restore his creation from the pollution and corruption brought about by sin, and he sends his people (the church) to bear witness of the good news of the redeemer and his kingdom throughout the earth. (“a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”[9])
There seems to be similarities in the two plotlines. However, in the Christian narrative, there’s a significant twist to the hero’s journey. The original hero (i.e., the first Adam) of the story fails, but the true hero of the journey ends up being Jesus. He was the true hero all along. The One who called the “hero” to adventure is himself the one true hero who completes the journey… completely, sacrificially, raised from grave.
[1] From the Editor’s Forward to the 2020 Collected Works Edition, David Kindler, Managing Editor, The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, Mill Valley, CA, September 28, 2020; The Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, 3rd edition, Joseph Campbell Foundation, 2008, Kindle.
[2] George Lucas, quoted in Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey, “The Return Threshold.” Cited in the Editor’s Forward to the 2020 Collected Works Edition, Kindle.
[3] Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), Preface, Kindle
[4] Ibid.
[5] Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land, eds. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troubling knowledge (New York: Routledge, 2006), 3-18.
[6] Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (New York: Joseph Campbell Foundation, 2020), “Prologue.” From the Editor’s Forward to the 2020 Collected Works Edition, Kindle.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
About the Author
Travis Vaughn
10 responses to “The Hero’s Journey, and a twist”
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I’ve also come to appreciate the creation-fall-redemption framework for understanding the Bible and especially for teaching it to children. Early on in our church plant the Jesus Storybook Bible became our go-to for Sunday school lessons for exactly that reason. I love the way it tells every story pointing readers toward Jesus. And it’s true what you said, this is a threshold concept that I can’t unsee. It affects how I read the whole Bible. It brings to mind Hebrews 12:2 where Jesus is called “the author and perfecter of our faith.”
It really was a threshold concept for me. And for that reason — I, too, couldn’t “unsee” it. In fact, it became a challenge for me to find discipleship material that was consistent with a redemptive-narrative sort of construct, back in our church planting days. I wanted to find something that pointed people to a more storied approach to Bible reading. That eventually led me (with some help) to the work of Michael Goheen and The Drama of Scripture. At the time, I had not come across Sally Lloyd Jones’s book. That would have been super helpful.
I think about where you and your family have been working in France. I would be curious if / how you’ve seen people there embrace a similar storied framework of scripture. Like…do you think such a framework makes scripture more accessible?
Repent and Return to me (Christ).
Thanks for bringing in the bible “myth” to the forefront of this discussion. Using Campbells monomyth, we can perhaps see how we can take the many valuable bible verses and create a “readable/viewable?” story in which people can encounter the gospel.
The new “Jesus Revolution” movie has just come out and I wonder how these story tellers will present the story of the Gospel revival in the California Hippy Movement. I am going to see it with my wife.
Thanks for your comments…Shalom…Russ
Russ, you are the second person today to mention the “Jesus Revolution” movie. It came up while I was in a zoom conversation with a pastor in a different state who happens to serve in the Calvary Chapel tradition. Before today, I had no idea such a movie was coming out. There’s another independent film that came out in 2005 called “Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher.” The documentary focuses on Lonnie Frisbee, a key figure in the early days of the Calvary Chapel and eventually Vineyard movements. If that era interests you, you should check it out. As for “Jesus Revolution,” I, too, would be curious how they treat the story of the gospel as it relates to the Jesus Movement era.
Travis, I appreciate the nudge to revisit Bartholomew’s and Goheens, “The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story.” Such a helpful resource that I have not pulled off my shelf in a number of years, but am compelled to do so immediately.
Reading Scripture as an unfolding narrative rather than a prooftext for position/belief affirmation has been an important development in my faith journey.
John, to say that Goheen’s work had a significant impact in my faith journey would be an understatement. I came across his (and others’) work a long time ago. When I was in my early 30s, I asked the same professor I had in seminary who presented the creation-fall-redemption framework…who else was producing material (I was looking for discipleship curriculum to accompany our small groups) using this same construct. He recommended Goheen and Bartholomew’s work. I believe it had just been published at the time. Speaking of Bartholomew, he has another work I found quite interesting called “Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today.” He was one of the few authors writing heavy commentary on a “theology of place,” at least back then.
There are so many echos in all of these stories to God’s story. Your writing makes me think about a Lewis quote from Chronicles where it seems like Aslan is trying to point the way to this greater narrative of which we are all a part, whether we acknowledge it or not:
“Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time.”
Jennifer, thanks so much for reminding me of that particular quote! You are so right — I kept thinking about these “echoes” as I read Campbell. I kept wondering just how much of Campbell’s Catholic upbringing may have shaped some of the conclusions he reached regarding the hero’s journey. At any rate, reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces made me want to go back and watch more closely the hero’s journey stages in Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings. And now, with the C.S. Lewis reference you mentioned, I want to break out The Chronicles of Narnia again. Alas, that may have to wait until after May of 2025, though.
Travis, I really enjoyed your post. I love the connections you made using the “redemptive-historical approach” to reading Scripture and then noticing the convergent plot lines of the Bible as they compare with the hero’s journey. I noticed in your footnote the book, The Drama of Scripture. Do you have other recommended readings for the redemptive- historical approach?
Jenny, here are a few resources that come to mind… Amy Sherman’s “Kingdom Calling,” Jeff Van Duzer’s “Why Business Matters to God,” and “Far as the Curse is Found,” by Michael Williams. You might also check out https://www.reframecourse.com/.