The Power of Myth
Dr. Sexson asked us to make a post with some comments on the movie, so here it is:
I disagree.
So much of what was said in that movie is either blatently wrong or biased. It had a certain agenda in mind (namely Joseph Campbell's, which involves unifying all myth) and thus it presented its information in a manner to support that claim.
I'll start with the beginning, covering only that which I remember.
I think this was more a phrase issue than one of intent, but the way they talked about the Church and the issue of arranged marriages was off the mark. They said (or at least implied) that the Church held that non-arranged marriages were adultery, and that the Church herself arranged marriages, neither of which is really true. As was later stated, it is the parents who arrange a marriage, and they do so for their own benefit. As for adultery, it is committed when a married person has an affair with an unmarried person, which is exactly what Tristen and Isolde were doing. It had nothing to do with the fact that the marriage was arranged.
The next issue is minor, and more based of implication. Someone implied that the Church no longer tought that love must be all encompassing the way it did in the middle ages, but this is not true. One is still required to love your neighbor and love your enemies.
Campbell states that it is clear Isis was the proto-type for the Blessed Virgin, but his evedince is entirely circumstantial and quite poor. The only real connection between the two is the fact that they were both mothers of a god, but where as Isis was the literal mother of Horus (and their was no virgin birth there, as was implied), Mary is the mother only of the human nature of Jesus, not his divine nature, and thus herself is no more than human.
The idea that because one cathedral in France had a sculpture of Jesus on his mother's lap and a similar image exists in Isis/Horus mythology the two are connected is completely absured. Just because this statue of St. Denis shows him holding his head does not mean he is in any way related to the headless horseman. There are only so many different poses people can have.
The final issue I would like to raise is the suggesstion that the Church Fathers intentionally drew Mary or any other figure out of pagan mythology. The passage Joseph Campbell sites, out of 1 Peter, is referring not to mythology, but to the Old Testemant and the prophets. Rather than claiming to have borrowed from other cultures, they are showing how their truth is rooted in the ancient Hebreic tradition.
And for a parting note, here is a site which argues against the monomyth of Joseph Campbell.
I disagree.
So much of what was said in that movie is either blatently wrong or biased. It had a certain agenda in mind (namely Joseph Campbell's, which involves unifying all myth) and thus it presented its information in a manner to support that claim.
I'll start with the beginning, covering only that which I remember.
I think this was more a phrase issue than one of intent, but the way they talked about the Church and the issue of arranged marriages was off the mark. They said (or at least implied) that the Church held that non-arranged marriages were adultery, and that the Church herself arranged marriages, neither of which is really true. As was later stated, it is the parents who arrange a marriage, and they do so for their own benefit. As for adultery, it is committed when a married person has an affair with an unmarried person, which is exactly what Tristen and Isolde were doing. It had nothing to do with the fact that the marriage was arranged.
The next issue is minor, and more based of implication. Someone implied that the Church no longer tought that love must be all encompassing the way it did in the middle ages, but this is not true. One is still required to love your neighbor and love your enemies.
Campbell states that it is clear Isis was the proto-type for the Blessed Virgin, but his evedince is entirely circumstantial and quite poor. The only real connection between the two is the fact that they were both mothers of a god, but where as Isis was the literal mother of Horus (and their was no virgin birth there, as was implied), Mary is the mother only of the human nature of Jesus, not his divine nature, and thus herself is no more than human.
The idea that because one cathedral in France had a sculpture of Jesus on his mother's lap and a similar image exists in Isis/Horus mythology the two are connected is completely absured. Just because this statue of St. Denis shows him holding his head does not mean he is in any way related to the headless horseman. There are only so many different poses people can have.
The final issue I would like to raise is the suggesstion that the Church Fathers intentionally drew Mary or any other figure out of pagan mythology. The passage Joseph Campbell sites, out of 1 Peter, is referring not to mythology, but to the Old Testemant and the prophets. Rather than claiming to have borrowed from other cultures, they are showing how their truth is rooted in the ancient Hebreic tradition.
And for a parting note, here is a site which argues against the monomyth of Joseph Campbell.
posted by J.M.R. Burgard | 3:57 PM
1 Comments:
The idea was that I was not the only one who opposed Cambpell. I know some professors who consider his stuff complete and total bunk, but I was unable to find a good site with that information. I had a lot of difficulty trying to find anything balanced about him. People either loved him or hated him.
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