The Hero With a Thousand Faces

by Joseph Campbell

reviewed by John Gilbert

The Hero With a Thousand Faces (ISBN 0-691-01784-0) by Joseph Campbell, published by Princeton University Press in the Bollingen Series XVII in 1949 has been reprinted several times in paperback and is currently available through your local bookseller or used bookshop.

This is the classic about all the spiritual heroes and the paths they travel as the one archetypal hero of the world. Whatever name you attribute to the hero of your own religion, the path he or she travels has been traveled by the same hero many times under a different name. The story is the same, only the names of the characters change from time to time, country to country and age to age.

Let me hasten to remind readers Joseph Campbell was a Christian, albeit his philosophy was distinctly Gnostic and his approach Universal. Obviously his concept of Christianity was certainly different from that of a close-minded evangelist who believes Jesus was the only Son of the Divine, born of a virgin, crucified, buried and resurrected. The truth is Jesus was one of the last in a long series of such persons.

On the other hand, the Christ Consciousness, which can be the most important part of Christianity, succinctly describes the spark of the Divine that resides in each of us as our own Higher Self. Seeking and attaining that Christ Consciousness is a worthy goal according to the author and many spiritual teachers.

This book is required reading of all students seeking ordination through programs offered by Universal Seminary. The Universal Gnostic Fellowship strongly recommends this book to all serious students of spirituality.

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