Joseph Campbell - Critiqueing his ideas

[Riverwolf]

I love Joseph Campbell's ideas. Regardless of whether his theories hold water in a scholarly, religious, or spiritual sense, at the very least, they are invaluable tools for storytellers. This is stressed in virtually all creative classes I've taken. That's not really what this thread is designed for; I just wanted to get that out of the way: let it be known that I love his ideas when applied in a creative context.

But what about in terms of comparative religion, mythological/religious studies, or spiritual seeking? In these contexts, how useful are his ideas? Are they accurate portrayals of the myths of the world, or are they oversimplified? Can a person's spiritual journey be summarized in the Hero's Journey, or can you have a spiritual journey that follows a completely different template?

I argue that, at the very least, Hero With a Thousand Faces is a great template for a spiritual journey(though certainly not the only one), but is virtually useless in the field of comparative religion/mythology. The reason for that is because it oversimplifies the myths of the world in order to fit his monomyth, whether a particular story actually does follow it accurately. Beowulf, for example, doesn't really follow the monomyth very well (or I don't see how it does; feel free to show me if you know how).

So, what do you guys think?

 

[idav]

A lot of those myths fit the hero journey, which beowulf fits as well, even if it isn't an adventure. Most the stories also have obstacles that need to be overcome and sometimes the hero has to fight their own inner demons. The "monomyth" works because people typically experience life very similarly and it will inevitably show when trying to express life and ideas in any literary form.

 

[Andal]

It's interesting because my masters degree was in religion and academically Campbell get's very little credit. In my opinion that is quite a shame. The hero with 1000 faces is a wonderful analysis of religious myth across traditions.

What's even more interesting is I am a hypnotist by profession and in training we spent a lot of time on Campbell's work. Not only is it a template for the creation of new stories and metaphors, it really is the structure of the journey of life. Each individual life can be mapped on top of the Hero's Journey. Also the template Campbell gives us matches up incredibly well with any type of personal change and development we engage it.

Campbell's work was both profound and extremely important. It is truly a shame that the field he came out of gives him very little respect.

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