Tom Snyder, author of the book, "Myth Conceptions: Joseph Campbell and the New Age." Tom teaches philosophy, aesthetics, social science & film at National University in Southern California. He holds a Ph.D in film studies from Northwestern University & has done post-doctoral research in Christian Apologetics at Simon Greenleaf School of Law. Lee Meckley is the radio host for "Christian Answers Live!"
Joseph Campbell (born March 26, 1904, New York, N.Y., U.S. — died Oct. 31, 1987, Honolulu, Hawaii) was author of works on comparative mythology. He studied English literature and taught at Sarah Lawrence College. He explored the common functions of myths in human cultures, examining mythic archetypes in folklore and literature from around the world. His views, strongly influenced by Carl Gustav Jung, were popularized through a public-television series in the 1980s (PBS' "The Power of Myth" with Bill Moyers). His books include "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" (1949) and "The Masks of God" (4 vol., 1959 -- 67). Joseph Campbell attacked the truthfulness of Christianity & lumped it in with all the other myths of the world, even referring to the resurrection of Christ as a "clown act." Meanwhile Campbell held to his own personal beliefs in new age pantheism, namely "one is all, all is one." Does he know more than the Bible writers do?
For over 200 hundred years, there has been an unprecedented attack on the historical authority of the Bible. Joseph Campbell is just one person in a long line of Biblical critics. He borrows from the work of these critics but never mentions that a considerable amount of research has proven their theories wrong. |
