{"id":27935,"date":"2021-11-11T16:56:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T00:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=27935"},"modified":"2021-11-11T16:56:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T00:56:17","slug":"heros-from-every-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/heros-from-every-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Heros from Every Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em> 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 \u201c by entering and transforming the personal psyche, the surrounding culture, the life of the family, one’s relational work, and other matters of life can be transformed too.\u201d [1]<\/a> Perhaps more than ever before, the world needs heroic change agents to address the dysfunctions within contemporary families and institutions. Therefore, it is not surprising that Campbell\u2019s in-depth, cross-cultural research is well received by a significant number of readers and has even inspired the production of Star Wars<\/em> and various TV shows.<\/p>\n

Divided into two parts focusing on Monomyths (the hero\u2019s journey) and the Cosmogonic cycle, Campbell provides a template for heroism (and leadership) based on lessons from cultures and religious traditions all over the world. From the Judeo-Christian perspective for example, Campbell\u2019s \u201cCall to Adventure[2]<\/a>\u201d may be seen as the Cultural Mandate of Genesis 1:28, where humanity is called upon to be responsible stewards of God\u2019s creation. The \u201cRefusal of the Call[3]<\/a>\u201d might be equated to our fall from grace in Eden; disobedience in general; as well as the reluctance of followers of Jesus to provide the leadership needed by the world today. Likewise, \u201cSupernatural Aid[4]<\/a>\u201d points to God\u2019s direct intervention in the early phase of a leader\u2019s journey. One example of this could be God miraculously transforming Moses\u2019 staff into a snake after mandating him to tell Pharaoh to set the Israelites free (Exodus 4). This highlights every leader\u2019s need for reassurance in the assignment before them, especially in the early phase of their leadership when the leader has little or no experience in walking with God. Campbell\u2019s \u201cCrossing of the First Threshold[5]<\/a>\u201d symbolizes a leader\u2019s initial victory, a development that usually strengthens the leader\u2019s resolve to lead with confidence. Moses and Aaron illustrate this theme of Campbell\u2019s description of the initiation<\/em> of a leader when Aaron\u2019s staff turns into a snake and swallows the staffs of Pharaoh\u2019s magicians (Exodus 7). The last theme of the initiation of a leader, \u201cThe Belly of the Whale[6]<\/a>,\u201d highlights a season of discouragement in the early phase of a leader or hero\u2019s journey. Additionally, this shows that heroes are as human as anyone else, with moments of victory and failure. Perhaps no other Biblical character exemplifies this more than Jonah, who tried to disobey God and ended up inside the belly of a fish (Jonah 2). Fortunately, Jonah repented and ultimately fulfilled God\u2019s mandate for his life.<\/p>\n

However, as remarkable as The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em> is, I do not fully agree with it because it presents the ideas of all religions, including Christianity, as myths. In contrast, historical and archaeological evidence prove the reality of several of the claims of the Bible, thereby disqualifying the idea that Biblical stories could be myths. Indeed, the personal transformation of countless individuals globally testifies to the reality of Christianity. Otherwise, Campbell has given the world an excellent resource that will probably continue to inspire researchers for many more years.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em><\/span>. (Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2004). P. xxvi.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, p45<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, p 54<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, p 63<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, p 71<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid, p 83<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201c by entering and transforming the personal psyche, the surrounding culture, the life of the family, one’s relational work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,35,2106],"class_list":["post-27935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-culture","tag-leadership","tag-the-hero-with-a-thousand-faces","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27936,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935\/revisions\/27936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}