Publication
Imprint: Novato, California : New World Library, c2001. Edition: First printing. Series: Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, 1. Responsibility: Joseph Campbell ; edited with a foreword by Eugene Kennedy. Physical: Text : 1 volume : xxi, 136 pages ; 23 cm. Features: Includes bibliography, index.
Call number
Myth / Campb
ISBN
1577312023 / 9781577312024
Original publication date
2001
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Description: This volume explores Judeo-Christian symbols and metaphors -- and their misinterpretations -- with the famed mythologist's characteristic conversational warmth and accessible scholarship.
Table of Contents: The meaning of myth --
What myths do --
Metaphor, the native tongue of myth --
Metaphor and mystery --
Symbolism and religious experience --
Experiencing mystery --
Elements of our experience of the mystery of God --
Symbols : out of time and place --
Imagination and its relation to theological inquiry --
What kinds of gods have we? --
Genesis --
Abraham, father of the Jewish people --
The virgin birth --
The cave --
The infant --
Flight into Egypt --
The child as teacher --
The Messiah --
Miracles --
The Last Supper --
Judas --
Crucifixion --
The cross --
The end of the world --
Question period --
Appendix: Earthrise--
the dawning of a new spiritual awareness.
FY2003 /
Table of Contents: The meaning of myth --
What myths do --
Metaphor, the native tongue of myth --
Metaphor and mystery --
Symbolism and religious experience --
Experiencing mystery --
Elements of our experience of the mystery of God --
Symbols : out of time and place --
Imagination and its relation to theological inquiry --
What kinds of gods have we? --
Genesis --
Abraham, father of the Jewish people --
The virgin birth --
The cave --
The infant --
Flight into Egypt --
The child as teacher --
The Messiah --
Miracles --
The Last Supper --
Judas --
Crucifixion --
The cross --
The end of the world --
Question period --
Appendix: Earthrise--
the dawning of a new spiritual awareness.
FY2003 /
Physical description
xxi, 136 p.; 23 cm
Description
Thou Art That is a compilation of previously uncollected essays and lectures by Joseph Campbell that focus on the Judeo-Christian tradition. Campbell explores common religious symbols, reexamining and reinterpreting them in the context of his remarkable knowledge of world mythology.Campbell believed that society often confuses the literal and metaphorical interpretations of religious stories and symbols. In this collection, he eloquently reestablishes these symbols as a means to enhance spiritual understanding and mystical revelation. With characteristic verve, he ranges from rich storytelling to insightful comparative scholarship. Included is editor Eugene Kennedy's classic interview with Campbell in the New York Times Magazine, which originally brought the scholar to the attention of the public.… (more)
Language
Original language
English
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User reviews
LibraryThing member g026r
The nature of being a number of disparate talks and essays stitched together into one work results in it being poorly structured and disjointed. It's also prone to more of Campbell's forays off into la-la-land than normal.
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Mythology and spiritual symbolism interpreted metaphorically.
Extended review:
This is the first volume in a series of compilations of material from the lectures and essays of Joseph Campbell, selected, integrated, and edited by various scholars on behalf of the Joseph Campbell
It could conceivably be the case that the editor has unwittingly introduced errors and interpretations that don't belong to Campbell. Editing someone else's work is a worthy enterprise, but inevitably fraught with risk. The perils become many times greater when the author is no longer around to answer questions and review his own work.
I would have expected, for instance, that Campbell himself would have spoken of the precession and not the procession of the equinoxes; but one way or another, the term appears erroneously on page 44. That is not the only such lapse I noticed in the book.
With that caveat in mind, I did enjoy reading this small volume, awed, as ever, by the breadth and depth of Campbell's knowledge, his ability to assimilate vast quantities of material, and his representation of it through the lens of a single clear vision. Any exposure to Campbell's thinking always makes me feel that I have glimpsed other dimensions of being. Even when I fail to retain the perspective gained at a higher elevation, I remember that I've been there.
Extended review:
This is the first volume in a series of compilations of material from the lectures and essays of Joseph Campbell, selected, integrated, and edited by various scholars on behalf of the Joseph Campbell
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Foundation. As such, it can't be viewed in quite the same light as the books authored by Campbell, although the content and the words are his. It's a little more casual, a bit disjointed, a bit repetitive, and possibly--although this is my own inexpert opinion and may be groundless--a bit muddied in places by the necessity of stitching together pieces of disparate material.It could conceivably be the case that the editor has unwittingly introduced errors and interpretations that don't belong to Campbell. Editing someone else's work is a worthy enterprise, but inevitably fraught with risk. The perils become many times greater when the author is no longer around to answer questions and review his own work.
I would have expected, for instance, that Campbell himself would have spoken of the precession and not the procession of the equinoxes; but one way or another, the term appears erroneously on page 44. That is not the only such lapse I noticed in the book.
With that caveat in mind, I did enjoy reading this small volume, awed, as ever, by the breadth and depth of Campbell's knowledge, his ability to assimilate vast quantities of material, and his representation of it through the lens of a single clear vision. Any exposure to Campbell's thinking always makes me feel that I have glimpsed other dimensions of being. Even when I fail to retain the perspective gained at a higher elevation, I remember that I've been there.
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LibraryThing member Lake_Oswego_UCC
Campbell's essays on Judeo-Christian tradition exploring common symbols of Western religions.