{"id":35391,"date":"2024-01-31T13:35:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35391"},"modified":"2024-01-31T13:40:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:40:18","slug":"i-knew-being-a-hero-was-not-that-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/i-knew-being-a-hero-was-not-that-special\/","title":{"rendered":"I Knew Being A Hero Was Not That Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I read \u201cThe Hero with a Thousand Faces\u201d this week, I was struck with how the gaps far outweigh any structural unity. The book\u2019s purpose shows in its legacy, leaving many readers to use it to produce even more heroic tales and modern myths [1]. I am left without any further clarity on shared reasons as to why<\/em> we look for such heroes, or seek to become them, which would reveal the unity suggested in the title. <\/span><\/p>\n

While I tried to read open-mindedly about this call for the archetypal chosen one to save humanity, I could not seem to set aside the objection which Campbell himself raised in the preface – that not enough effort has been given to point out the differences [2]. I think I can surmise what effect he would like to have on the readers. It would be a sense of reverence and humility when centering one\u2019s life around a single myth, engaging in a fumbling effort to explain the world, in sharing a group dream, and in living by a common revelation [3]. There is danger in group-think. And so, learning more broadly about how ideas get similarly situated in different cultures and religions across time can at least keep arrogance at bay in one\u2019s beliefs. <\/span><\/p>\n

I had this kind of experience in 2015, when I learned about the Mesha Stele, a Moabite stone recovered in modern Jordan. For me, learning about a recorded story of a battle against Israel, by a Moabite king, in honour and praise to their god, Chemosh, which is a counterpoint to 2 Kings 3 (where Mesha is mentioned as one who was indebted to Israel but who then rebelled) caused me to reflect on how ancient histories interact with one another [4]. The framing of the story as that of a good king who paid homage to his god, and restored peace for his people, while taking the plunder from the enemy and presenting it to his god is the common cadence. The narratives of Israel\u2019s kings follow similar patterns. For me, this was the feeling I had reading Campbell, seeing how there is something in the similarity of the telling that gets to what matters to humanity, through time and across cultures and religions.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, that is what I intend to do with this material: I will draw it into my contextualization research. I think it wise to stay curious about the shared longings and makings of stories which reach for a hero who, from personal calling or god-appointment, does something extraordinary for humanity, fights evil and enables good to prevail.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Odenthal, Kathleen. 2014. \u201cA List of Modern Day Archetypes.\u201d April 8, 2014. https:\/\/discover.hubpages.com\/relationships\/Top-Ten-Female-Archetypes-of-Modern-Society.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] In that preface he writes, \u201cPerhaps it will be objected that in bringing out the correspondences I have overlooked the differences between the various Oriental and Occidental, modern, ancient, and primitive traditions\u201d (Preface).\u00a0 <\/span>Joseph Campbell, and David Kudler. 2020. <\/span>The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/span>. Vol. 30th Anniversary Special edition. Collected Works of Joseph Campbell. [Place of publication not identified]: Joseph Campbell Foundation. https:\/\/search-ebscohost-com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2680592&scope=site.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid., Epilogue.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Emerton, J. A. \u201cThe Value of the Moabite Stone as an Historical Source.\u201d Vetus Testamentum 52, no. 4 (2002): 483\u201392. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1585139.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I read \u201cThe Hero with a Thousand Faces\u201d this week, I was struck with how the gaps far outweigh any structural unity. The book\u2019s purpose shows in its legacy, leaving many readers to use it to produce even more heroic tales and modern myths [1]. I am left without any further clarity on shared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"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":[3011,789],"class_list":["post-35391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dglp03","tag-campbell","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35391","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\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35392,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35391\/revisions\/35392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}