The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology | Joseph Campbell

The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology | Joseph Campbell | Evolution of Occidental Religious Thought as an Epic Dialogue Between Levantine and European Beliefs

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	The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology Joseph Campbell Penguin (Non-Classics), 1991 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Campbell offers a systematic and fascinating comparison of the themes that underlie the art, worship, and literature of the Western world. "The high function of Occidental myth and ritual . . . is to establish a means of relationship--of God to Man and Man to God."--Joseph Campbell.

The role of myth in the history of the Middle East and Europe

One topic from PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY, the first volume of the MASKS OF GOD, that is especially prominent in the beginning of this volume concerns the mythology of the Earth Goddess reaching back to the Bronze Age. Primitive agriculture spread within the broad equatorial zone but first developed in the Middle East, and the myths that come out of that time represent an endless cycle of life and death, growth and decay, in which everything is renewed as in the obvious phases of the moon, in the endless reappearance of the sun. The force of this growth and renewal is necessarily female, of the goddess, and the items that appear in the artifacts dating from this time concern the serpent, the tree, the moon, and include signs of both human and animal sacrifice for the purpose of ensuring fertility.

In contrast with the female element in primitive agriculture is the masculine emphasis of the tribesman and herdsman of the Iron Age. With weapons newly acquired, pastoral warriors sought to extend their power. The ascent of the Mesopotamian god Marduk, in his victory over the goddess-mother Tiamat, parallels the rise of the invader Hammurabi. The patriarchal society that now evolves includes such people as the Hebrews, wanderers of the desert.

As much as the Hebrews have been a center of attention, life did not originate with them and the Old Testament. First came a long history leading up to their arrival, in which civilization began in the Middle East, including a goddess centered mythology and, notably, the foundation of the written word. Scholarship reveals that there were multiple texts that first existed from which the Old Testament was constructed, and two mythologies can clearly be discerned that were blended together to form the creation myth in Genesis. The ancient symbols of the serpent and the tree appear, but here, instead of a divinity that encompasses the force that is in all nature, the divinity is seen as being totally separate and apart, transcendent and at the same time omniscient; and by man's deeds and woman's temptation, human kind is rendered into an alienated, sinful state, in which everything is either a blessing or a curse from God.

Contrary to the Old Testament, the goddess and nature were not reduced to insignificance by the Greeks and Romans. The forces of nature are clearly apparent in Greek myths, and the goddesses, though overshadowed by Zeus and the heroic male, played prominent roles. Rather than having the effect of denigrating nature as being corrupt, the Greek myths encouraged those with an inquiring mind to seek knowledge about the world and ask fundamental questions about life. As a result, at the time of the Greeks, there was a flowering of philosophic inquiry and great strides made in mathematics and science, some of which would not be resumed for almost another two millennium.

With the advent of Christianity, the theology of immanence, as evident in the Roman pantheon or Gnosticism or the mystery cults, falls by the wayside. The author explains three major views that contended for the orthodoxy of the early Christian church: the view of the Jewish Christians that the Messiah meant a restoration and glorification of Israel; the view of the Gnostics that took an entirely different line from the Jewish tradition and emphasized knowledge; and the Marcion view that held that the Old Testament God had created evil and Jesus was the saviour sent by a higher God. What won out as set down by the powers of the early Church made the New Testament a fulfillment of the Old, and stirred in among other elements the Zoroastrian idea of the final judgement day. Rather than incorporating many different views, the early Church, starting with Paul, took a narrow view of rigid consensus and eventually everything else was considered a heresy.

All the elements of Islam, according to the author, continue in the Zoroastrian-Jewish-Christian legacy. His statement - "The mask of God named Allah is a product of the same desert from which the mask Yahweh had come centuries before" - is very interesting in light of the ongoing turmoil in the Mideast. Both Jewish law and Islamic law derive from the same place and both come from a transcendent God of the same forebears. In Islam, the consensus of the clergy in determining laws was derived from the Word of God and became rigid doctrine that had no basis for dissent or change. There were three principle derivations of law: Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi.

The goal in this study (in my reading and in what I see as Joseph Campbell's pursuit) is to gain a sober assessment of the origins of religious and philosophic views of the Occident; to see its mythology for the metaphor that it is and not to grasp it tightly as if it were simply factual. The myths of the ancient world never seem so transparent; they open up a study of surprising depth. Reading them is like being confronted with a puzzle in which the solution is never unarguable or definite. The comparative part of mythology helps in this regard. In this book the author draws heavily and enlarges on material from the previous two volumes. There is much to consider in comparing the Occident with the Orient.

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Evolution of Occidental Religious Thought as an Epic Dialogue Between Levantine and European Beliefs

Many other excellent longer reviews have been written for this book, so I'll just keep mine (relatively) short. I bought and read this volume first, and it inspired me to order the other three volumes of "The Masks of God". Although I'm not a specialist in comparative religion, I found this volume an excellent introduction: covering the entire history of religion west of and including Persia, but not neglecting to make connections between these and the Oriental religions. But Campbell's approach is more than presenting a hodge-podge of connections between world religions. He was trying to paint a picture of an epic tale of the dialogue and development of religious thought throughout history. For lots of details on particular religions, other sources are probably better, but for presenting the big picture and illuminating the main ideas and trends in Occidental religions, and showing how these threads of belief interacted with one another over time, I found the book very illuminating. Judeo-Christian faithful might be upset with his treatment of their religion as another among many world myths, but those who are open to seeing how their religion fits into the context of other world beliefs might find the comparisons enlightening. For example Jews and Christians might find it interesting to learn that some of their beliefs (afterlife, angels, heaven and hell) may have come from the influence of ancient Zoroastrianism on early Judaism.

I look forward to reading the other three volumes. (Volume 1 is on primitive mythology (e.g. aboriginal, Native American, etc.); Volume 2 is on oriental mythology; and Volume 4 is, I think, Campbell's take on the direction modernity has been going with religious belief. It was a little hard to find the other 3 volumes on Amazon, but they are all there, if you click on the links of the reviewers that point to the correct volumes.

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Sign of a true genius

I learned a great deal from the Masks of God series.Joseph Campbell was a true innovator and one of a kind. I've continued to purchase all of his works. I highly recommend The Masks of God Volumes 1-4 to anyone.

A Review For the Series Entire (& a Brief Review of This Volume)

A Myth is not a lie, but, like Art, a rendering of Truth. Subsequently, religion is the extension of myth through ritual. Despite the titles, these texts are as much about religion as myth, and the works are all the better for it. Campbell skillfully explores the Human experience, and what Man has made of it, over the course of these four seminal works. At times, one feels the influence of Toynbee, but Campbell has gone beyond the author of A Study of History and into a world all the more full of wonder.

Man is the most conscious participant in Nature, and, as the Image of God, the only creature capable of reshaping Nature according to his own interpretations of its meaning. These little shapings, which we call art, myth, religion, culture, and philosophy are the stuff a rich existence is made of.

Stated simply, this work dutifully charts the progress, derivations, and points of origin of these shapings. Campbell's prose is warm, friendly, compassionate, loving but stern, and creative. One could not ask for a better introduction to the Man's works.

Occidental Mythology is the third in the series, and deals principally with Indo-European (Hellenism, Zoroastrianism) and Semitic (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) traditions. Through the thick swaths of these mythological histories we can make out a wonderful tapestry that ties the two together in profound ways while clearly outlining their differences. This is an essential work, as for we Westerners it clearly outlines who we are and how we came to be.

For those not familiar with some of the artistic themes discussed in this and other works, Campbell's Mythic Image (Illustrated Edition) makes a strong companion.

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