Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth and Henry Corbin

I went through a Joseph Campbell stage of my faith walk, an intellectual freeing that enabled me to see something beyond what I thought was just crazy belief.  It was this book that opened my eyes to the power of "myth" (not in the sense of make believe but in the sense of symbol pointing to a deeper reality).

However, there was one sentence I remembered and it only came blazing into my brain after becoming immersed in the world of born-again Christianity and Islam.  Campbell completely, at least in this book, overlooks, ignores, and is even ignorant of, the power of these traditions in the lives of the faithful. 

"MOYERS: Is there something like this common in the experience of our culture? I'm thinking particularly of the born-again experience in our Southern culture.

CAMPBELL: There must be. This is an actual experience of transit through the earth to the realm of mythological imagery, to God, to the seat of power. I don't know what the born-again Christian experience is...."

Now, I'm not sure if he ever discusses the born again Christian experience anywhere else in his writings but this little statement is a powerhouse.  Granted, the man could not be expert on every religion everywhere ever but this little lacunae is significant.

I've noticed also that in all the pleading in Henry Corbin's writing and those who interpret him (e.g. Tom Cheetham), he too seems unaware of the born-again Christian's emphasis on living in the "spirit".  Those things he pleads for are in fact sought by born-again Christians. 

It's an interesting parallel worth looking into.  I am hoping to continue this line of thinking as I finish Tom Cheetham's remarkable Green Man, Earth Angel.