Occidental Mythology (Masks of God)

I bought all four books in the "Masks of God" Series and started reading them out of order (with Volume 3) because I wanted to delve right into Biblical Mythology. I'm not far into it yet but as usual, Joseph Campbell is blowing my mind! My previous exposure to him was through the Bill Moyers interviews. I listened to them with rapt attention and felt that I was hearing the profound knowledge of pure genius. This book is no less profound. And I think it goes even deeper than the interviews because the ideas, comparisons, and historical perspective are laid out in a logical, sequential way that makes it a delight to follow. Every page I turn reveals a new discovery for my mind to relish. It leaves me in wonder, fascination, and enjoyment. And gives me so many "ah-ha's" of acknowledgment along the way. Every word written by the author elicits deep resonance within me. I don't know how anyone can see history, humanity, or spirituality quite the same after being exposed to "The Masks of God." I will admit, this is not necessarily the easiest thing to read. The content is deep, distilled and concentrated. There are no wasted words. Every sentence is imbued with so much meaning to take in, that I often have to read sentences or paragraphs multiple times in order to fully wrap my mind around it. And the language J.C. uses is sometimes flowery in a way that is beautifully poetic. So actually, his poetic way of speaking requires you to adapt to the poetry of it. You have to flow with it like a river that takes you even deeper in your own understanding. He is not only talking about symbols, he is sometimes speaking directly in symbols as well. You have to let your mind burst open and expand for this. If you want your consciousness to be uplifted and expanded, and you are willing to work for it a little, then Joseph Campbell is for you. His body of work is so huge that I can only dream of being able to read it all........ but it's on my bucket list for sure.

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.

It is very hard to understand all but one of the questions asked about this book, which is why I only answered one of them. Amazon.com, this isn't a novel. As a writer about world mythology, Joseph Campbell would be really hard to beat or even equal. The Masks of God series is right at the heart of mythology studies; and I consider three of the books - Occidental Mythology, Oriental Mythology, and Primitive Mythology - to be absolutely essential. I started Creative Mythology and then my reading got cut short, so I cannot comment knowingly on that volume. It would be wonderful if Joseph Campbell's interview with Charlie Rose could be posted on the Web.

If you are interested in the history of religion, the four volume series, the Masks of God, is an excellent choice. Joseph Campbell views all religion as mythology, a somewhat agnostic view for anyone who is a true believer. He also provides overwhelming evidence that all religion derives from the most ancient of mythologies, going back to those of the neolithic cultural era. My only reservation about his writing is that it is both excessively verbose, lacks clarity, and is full of what to me are redundancies. That said, I still found this volume three of the tetralogy both an interesting and a rewarding read.

The book was not quite what I expected. To me it was more a book on anthropology than anything else. Not to detract from it though, it still had a lot of fascinating information in it. To me it is a shame that more "religious" people don't understand the history of their religions, how they are all tied together in ancient mythology. More people should read and understand this.

This book is an impressive accomplishment. It examines the history of the various cultures of the western world through their myths, as expressed in their art, worship, and literature. The significance of the similarities between these myths, as well as the functions they served, are examined. The author concludes that underlying these myths is a basic humanity that binds us all together. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, as well as anyone who has read any of Joseph Campbell's other books.

It's a superb study of Compared Myths and Traditions in the West. It shows you that very old ideas have been travelling west to east and east to west more than any average person could guess. It also discusses how certain ancient stories and myths have been adapted to the new culture that fosters them... sometimes even brutally turned upside down!You will find many historical data (that's the tough part) and Campbell gives many notes to source bibliography. The illustrations could be better presented and Greek and Roman mythology more widely covered, but it's still a very entertaining book and it let's u dig deeper into still existing world religions (spcecially Judaism, Christianism and Islam).

The one size fits all approach to mythology is not always convincing and the archaeology references are inevitably showing their age 50 years on from first publication. Nevertheless it is still a stimulating read with an easy prose style.

I had been looking to gather the 4 volumes of the series by the author, and to my surprise this purchase completed my collection.The were prompt, and the books condition was excellent, even if listed as "used". There was follow up to insure that I had received the book "Occidental Mythology" and I had.Would I use not only the service of Amazon, but more importantly the vendor, absolutely. It even was an out of country purchase, in the midst of a pandemic, and still it was brilliant. Much like the time before being locked down when one could stroll the isles of books searching for a title, this took the stroll out of the equation.

🖤 Excellent 🤍 As Described

book in very good conditions. thanks