RE: Christianity & Pagan Myth
caseyc@ALPHA.WCOIL.COM
Mon, 7 Apr 1997 19:24:04 -0400
WALT, Jr (4/4)
>Though Campbell is a giant in the field of mythology, some of his scholarship
>is horrendous and highly biased against christianity. For example, In Myths
>to Live By, the very beginning of the book has Campbell saying that the Bible
>teaches that the earth is flat and that the Bible teaches a 6000 year age for
>the earth.
>
>Though science has proven the earth is round, nowhere does the Bible teach
>that the earth is flat. In fact, Job 26:7 says, God "suspends the earth over
>nothing", and Isaiah 40:22 says God "sits enthroned above the circle of the
>earth." The passages about the four corners of the earth is clearly
>figurative language that the Bible uses. As a person who is constantly
>talking about figurative language and metaphor, Campbell's approach to
>biblical interpretation makes no sense.
>
>Also, he sets up a straw man with the date that he sets for the date of
>creation. The church as a whole never taught as a whole a 4000BC date for
>the creation of the earth. Such a date wasn't taught by any Christians until
>the Irish Archbiship James Ussher in the 17th century. Campbell's scholarship
>is poor and highly biased.
>
>In fact, Campbells's ethics is monstrous. In Power of Myth (p. 229), he says
>the following:
>
>"Everything happens in mutual relation to everything else, so you can't blame
> anybody for anything."
>
>This is one of the most immoral statements I have ever heard. This would mean
>that I could not blame rapists, murderers, etc...Campbells ethical philosophy
>is ludicrous as well as his pantheistic view of the world. Consider the
>following that he says in Power of Myth (p.32):
>
>"We are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the
> eyes of the earth. And this is the voice of the earth...The only myth that
> that is going to be worth talking about in the immediate future is one that
> is talking about the planet, not the city, not these people, but the planet,
> and everybody on it."
>
>What an ecological/pantheistic guru. Campbell knows his stuff about myth, but
>he leaves his domain of expertise when he begins talking about metaphysical
>issues. In fact, when he begins to do this, he makes many errors and many
>unjustified assertions.
>
>His,
>Walt Jr.
CASEY (4/7)
You know, Walt, Jr., I was gathering together all of my Joseph Campbell
books in order to point-out the ignorance of your remarks but then I
remembered one of the very few passages from your "good book", - no, wait
a minute, I mean the bible - that applies to people who deliberately reject
the obvious truth of something.
"...neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under
their feet..." (matthew 7:6)
The only resonse that I will allow myself to make is this.
Campbell's reputation certainly doesn't need me to defend it, but when
it comes to Joseph Campbell's "ethical philosophy" YOUR j.c. couldn't
carry MY J.C.'s jock strap!
BTW, if you wish to respond to something I've posted on the list, do NOT
send me a personal post. Your bullsh_t should be required reading for any
xian who still has half-a-brain left so that they can see what they will
become if they do NOT change their ways.
Mine,
Chuck Casey