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The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology (1964) by Joseph Campbell casts a large net over what it is to hold a Western faith in distinction from an Eastern faith and how such distinctions developed among the varied belief systems over the ages. Campbell's book on comparative mythology includes, but is not limited to what will be reviewed here, the interconnections between East and West relating to ''the serpent's bride'' as well as the age of Moses. In one chapter, Campbell also discusses
This is the third volume of Campbell's The Masks of God and each installment so far has been increasingly impressive. The first volume, Primitive Mythology dealt with pre-historic and those contemporary indigenous societies still with a paleolithic level of technology. By necessity, it depended upon archeological evidence and a lot of psychological speculations, those of Freud in particular. It made for very dry reading pretty much throughout and made me a little skeptical of his take--what if t...
At times, a brilliant book, at times a bit overwritten, but still quite important, looking at the evolution of mythology/religion in the West, including the decline of the Græco-Roman rule, the rise of Christian and Muslim orthodoxy and then the emergence in the Renaissance and Reformation of the idea of the individual directly his own relationship to G-d.Not as good as the Hero with a Thousand Faces, but a good read (usually)
Occidental Mythology is the third book in Campbell’s The Masks of God tetralogy. This is not light reading. Densely packed, each page is loaded with historical references that make most textbooks seem like waiting room material. I have quickly become a devotee of this man, but his writing can be overwhelming. The Masks of God is undeniably an ambitious project with its sweeping exploration of global myth. However, Campbell is so well versed in his subject I believe he forgets at times that the r...
Another well researched and presented exploration of the myths and religion that drive our world. This volume, by far, was the longest read in the series for me due to the amount of times I would check the references because they appeared to be inconsistent with what I thought I knew. As it turns out, what we believe we know about the Western religions is not always exactly what is written and that the history is far more convoluted and corrupted than many think.
This third volume of Campbell's expanded mythological examination starts out with a good grounding in Sumerian, Babylonian, and other Near East influences and pulls the themes effortlessly forward through Greek and Roman and all the way into the Christain. If that isn't enough, we also get a huge amount of exploration in the Jewish, Egyptian, Zoroastrian, and Muslim traditions.We get a very thorough if not utterly exhaustive look into all of these. I enjoyed the rather obvious and fascinating co...
In the third volume of his monumental comparative survey of the development of mythological motifs, Campbell turns his attention to the emergence of the great Occidental religious traditions beginning in the Near East. Having examined in previous volumes the religious infrastructure of the newly-emergent agricultural and urbanized Levant, Campbell reviews the emergence of the specialized priestly class. The priests of Sumer turn their attention heavenward to the orderly precession of the celesti...
I have a soft spot for Joseph Campbell. He's like a kindly old uncle, whose wonderful stories sparked in me a life long passion for mythology. It doesn't matter that now that I've grown up and delved more deeply into the field I've come to realize that much of what he had to say about myth turned out to be hogwash. He's still Uncle Joe and I love him.This book has literally been sitting, unread, on my shelf for decades. I bought it in high school and kept thinking "someday I'll get around to it....
Joseph Campbell's work is fun to read, but it's not actually good scholarship. His tendency to make sweeping generalizations is a weakness, and close examination of the details in the myths he discusses make a lot of his arguments fall apart.This said, the guy wasn't a poseur; he had genuine credentials in both medieval French and Sanskrit. It's not that he's imagining things that aren't in the text, or relying on others to do grunt work in translation that he isn't personally capable of doing.
In graduate school, when I asked my beloved mentor, Freudian/Lacanian David Wagenknecht about Carl Jung, his response was, "I dunno: a little too Joseph Campbell for me." There is no better or smarter human on earth than David and so I didn't read either Jung (who I worship) or Campbell (who I now really, really love) for many years. I think the wait was just fine for me (sorry Dave) but I know I will be reading at least Campbell's Masks of God for the rest of my life (and perhaps also his Skele...
I love comparative mythology, and Campbell's book is indeed well written... in a way that brings joy to the comparative enthusiast, however, he's a sloppy researcher. His theories make sense...until a point. Once you dig deeper you can see how he tries to make things fit in, and if something doesn't...it will not be included...at all... so I believe that he's too much of a reductionist. Also I feel that his comparisons are a bit exaggerated and the monomyth theory doesn't have a solid background...
The connections between Judians, Christianity, and Islam are pretty evident, but to mix in Zorastrianism, the Levant, Greek and Roman mythology and how they all intermingled was fascinating. This book truly sparked an interest for me to research the origins of the Bible.
Third in a set of 4 works. All of which are an indispensible resource if you have any ambition to understand Mythology and Comparative Religion.
The seminal work of Frazier was The Golden Bough and thus the weaving of myths...with reoccuring themes thru the history of man and memorialized in archeaology,and religions ..became apparent to me as a reader and so I was delighted to come across Campbell. Joseph Campbell's books of which I have read four, continues and amplifies this insight..with a multiplicity of examples of the weaving and reweaving of threads and elements, the different depictions of "the hero", the different presentations...
This is the volume in Joseph Campbell's Masks of God that covers Judaism, Christianity, & Islam. It is especially useful for illuminating the fascinating and often surprising foundations of Judeo-Christian myth, and one would be hard-pressed to find a more meticulous and thorough guide to such things. This is an exemplary work, although not quite perfect. For instance, Campbell sometimes made connections that later historical discoveries proved erroneous (He implied Stonehenge was inspired by My...
Like everyone else at the time, I was, I admit, a true believer in Jospeh Campbell. But the more I read the more I realised how prejudiced he could be at times against Western religions..esp the Roman Catholic Church. Now, there is nothing wrong per se with being against the RCC. But there is when you let it influence how you look at other religions. Which, as it turns out, he did admit in several interviews. Which is a shame,because he had some truly original thoughts about mythology.
I read the entire' Masks of God' series, but not in order, being introduced to it by Rich Hyde, a friend from high school who also attended college and seminary with me, while the two of us were at grandmother's cottage together. In all of them the influence of C.G. Jung's archetype theory is pronounced.
Campbell says that the “great mythic imageries”, including those of the world’s monotheistic religions, must be read as art or poetry, and not as literal fact. The “living God” is within (and not apart) from everything. Therefore, the Christian notion that man and nature is corrupt (therefore requiring a Savior and salvation) is an “extreme” statement of God “ apart” from the world and condemning it, before offering to save it. Furthermore, to the “uninstructed” mind, myths tend to become “histo...
This was one of the densest and most enjoyable books I have read in a while. Campbell constantly references the previous two volumes in the series, so it is a very easy thing to pick up the flow of the mythological connections between the various areas and eras of the world by reading this one volume. It took me quite a while to read, however, more so than any of Campbell's other works have taken. Lengthy block quotes from ancient texts litter the pages.
the Masks of God books are a wonderful tour nd education on mythology nd the interconnected ideas of mankind. I feel I am walkin away with a much different idea of what God can mean nd be. I am also watching some of Joseph Campbell lectures online on youtube they are amazing.The whole series on him and his work is stellar. He was always clear, never simplistic, articulated dense themes with patience and understanding.