Vol XVII. No. 1
The Masks of God, Volume I, the first volume in Joseph Campbell's monumental four volume Masks of God Series, was originally published in 1959 and is now revised with up to date science and new illustrations in this Collected Works of Joseph Campbell edition.
In this first volume of The Masks of God, the world’s preeminent mythologist explores and illuminates the wellsprings of myth. Showing his exemplary combination of scholarly depth and popular enthusiasm, Joseph Campbell looks at the expressions of religious awe in early humans and their echoes in the rites of surviving primal tribes. Campbell shows how myth has informed our understanding of the world, seen and unseen, throughout time. As he explores and shares archetypal mythic images and practices, he also points to how these concepts inform our personal lives.
Upon completing the monumental Masks of God series, Campbell found that his work affirmed “the unity of the race of man, not only in its biology, but also in its spiritual history.” He likened this unity to a symphony in which various parts create a “great movement.” Perhaps more than ever before, Campbell’s insight is not only illuminating but also inspiring.
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From Joseph Campbell's Original Prologue (1959-69)
The comparative study of the mythologies of the world compels us to view the cultural history of mankind as a unit; for we find that such themes as fire, theft, deluge, land of the dead, virgin birth and resurrected hero have a worldwide distribution.... these themes also appear in religious contexts, where they are accepted not only as factually true but even as revelations of the verities to which the whole culture is a living witness...
Every people has received its own seal and sign of supernatural designation... and yet an honest comparison immediately reveals that all have been built from one fund of mythological motifs...revered by every people on earth...
No one, as far as I know, has yet tried to compose into a single picture the new perspectives that have opened in the fields of comparative symbolism, religion, mythology, and philosophy by the scholarship of recent years...
I attempt in the following pages the first steps of a natural history of the gods and heroes, such as in its final form should include in its purview all divine beings - as zoology includes all animals and botany all plants... for as in the visible world of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, so also in the visionary world of the gods: there has been a history, an evolution, a series of mutations, governed by laws; and to show forth such laws is the proper aim of science.
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Author's Bio:
Joseph Campbell was interested in mythology since his childhood in New York, when he read books about American Indians, frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History, and was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Columbia in 1925 and 1927 and went on to study medieval French and Sanskrit at the universities of Paris and Munich. After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 1940s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The many books by Professor Campbell include The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Myths to Live By, The Flight of the Wild Gander, and The Mythic Image. He edited The Portable Arabian Nights, The Portable Jung, and other works. He died in 1987.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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My Thoughts:
My discovery of Joseph Campbell, more than three decades ago, revolutionized my understanding of the Hebrew and Christians scriptures, as well as comparative faith studies. Campbell begin his faith journey as Roman Catholic, and while he moved beyond that tradition, he continued to respect and learn from it.
While Campbell focused on many particular mythological traditions from around the world, he was always attempting to integrate particular systems into larger and grander ones.
My encounter with Indigenous spirituality in Canada started me on a journey of global discovery, and Joseph Campbell helped me on that journey.
The book presented today is the first in a series that Campbell developed - replete with text and graphics - many years ago, but which is still current and worth study. This helps us to gain a sense of the author's vast perspective. I am grateful that New World Library has continued to upgrade his books - never changing the original, but making our contemporary understanding more and more complete.
(several volumes in this series will appear, in time, from the publisher and I hope to introduce them to you over time.)
For complete information on Joseph Campbell and his work, click:
- Rachel Held Evans and Matthew Paul Turner
- John Onwuchekwa
I feel that we too often focus only on the negative aspect of life – on what is bad. If we were more willing to see the good and the beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to transform our families. From there, we would change our next-door neighbors and then others who live in our neighborhood or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world, which hungers so much for these things.
- Mother Teresa
Like a gas, the soul tends to fill the entire space which is given it. A gas which contracted, leaving a vacuum, this would be contrary to the law of entropy. It is not so with the God of the Christians.…Not to exercise all the power at one’s disposal is to endure the void. This is contrary to all the laws of nature. Grace alone can do it. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.
- Simone Weil
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It was said of Reb Simcha Bunim that he carried two slips of paper, one in each pocket. On one he wrote: Bishvili nivra ha-olam – “for my sake the world was created.” On the other he wrote: V’anokhi afar v’efer – “I am but dust and ashes.” He would take out each slip of paper as necessary, as a reminder to himself.
- Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa
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If everyone abandons you and even drives you away by force, then when you are left alone fall on the earth and kiss it, water it with your tears, and it will bring forth fruit even though no one has seen or heard you in your solitude. Believe to the end, even if all people went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. And if two of you are gathered together – then there is a whole world, a world of living love. Embrace each other tenderly and praise God, for, if only in you two, his truth has been fulfilled.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
