The Hero With a Thousand Christian Faces
Image: Renata Sedmakova, Shutterstock
When I was training as a screen writer one of the most important source books was The Hero With a Thousand Faces— Joseph Campbell’s classic study of the Hero’s Quest. Raised as a Catholic, Joseph Campbell embarked on a lifelong study of the legends, myths and stories from many different cultures around the world.
Joseph Campbell
From his study of diverse cultures he distilled “one story to rule them all”—the story of the hero’s quest. A simple ten-stage outline provides a template for all the great hero stories from around the world and down the ages, and that outline give a plan for personal growth, a model for corporate or societal change and a path for spiritual development.
Brief: Austin Fairfax is a young college student who is set a challenge by his parish priest–to embark on an adventure to learn the Way of the Wilderness Warrior–the way of spiritual maturity in Christ. His quest leads him to the hermitage of an amazing old monk who takes him step by step on the spiritual hero’s quest.
In my book, The Way of the Wilderness Warrior I simplified Campbell’s hero’s quest template and applied it to the Christian journey.
How does the path of the hero help young Christian men identify their spiritual quest with the classic hero’s quest?
Let’s do a quick walk through the ten stages to take a taste:
Stage One: The Ordinary World
At the beginning of the story the hero is found in his ordinary world. This is a world that he knows and in which he is comfortable. He is surrounded by family and friends, and a life that is, perhaps dull, but predictable and safe. However, within that world he has a glimpse of something else — an alternative.
Stage Two: The Call to Adventure:
Within the ordinary world the hero experiences a call to step out and go on the quest. This means leaving the comfort zone of his ordinary world. Within the spiritual life this call may be the beginning of a religious vocation, the call to embark on pilgrimage, to live and give more sacrificially, to search for a suitable spouse, to make a commitment to marriage or the priesthood or the religious life.
Stage Three: Refusing the Call:
An important, and unpleasant part of the hero’s quest now takes place. The hero, having heard the call, refuses the call. He knows a sacrifice will be demanded. He will have to leave the comfort of the ordinary world. He will have to leave friends and family behind. He doubts the call, questions his ability to respond, and tries to return to the ordinary world and deny the call. It is at this stage that many potential heroes chicken out.
Stage Four: Meeting the Mentor:
One of the reasons the hero has refused he call is a good and honest reason: he is not equipped for the journey. That he resists the call is a sign that he actually takes the call seriously. What he now needs is the assistance and guidance to think again. The mentor is any person or facility that equips the hero. In the great stories, this is a wise old man who has magical powers, and the mentor—whether it is a system or an individual—is wise and powerful. He believes in the hero, and this enables the hero to make the commitment and launch into the next stage.
Stage Five: The Step of Faith:
Now the hero steps out to make the commitment and embark on the hero’s quest. The step requires real faith and courage. He is leaving the old world behind and stepping across the threshold into the new world—the world of adventure. In the spiritual life this means, perhaps, being baptized, joining the church, trusting in God for the first time, encountering Christ or joining a religious order, going to seminary or committing to marriage.
Stage Six: Allies and Enemies:
Now that the hero is on the quest he will meet friends—other heroes who have also left their ordinary world. His bond with these new friends will be deeper than his former friendships because, like him, they have also set out on the quest and left the old world behind. He will also meet new spiritual allies—the saints and angels. In addition to these new allies he also encounters new enemies. In the spiritual life, new challenges, new temptations and attacks by the dark forces of satan. The allies will help him in the quest to battle the enemy forces.
Stage Seven: Facing the Darkness:
After initial trials and difficulties, the hero faces the reality of what he has done. He has burnt his bridges. There is no going back to the ordinary world and furthermore, what seemed to be a great adventure is not really very much fun. Just the opposite. He is faced with the fact that he has chosen to walk an arduous way—to climb a high mountain—to pursue a perilous path. The prospect of the future seems dark and he teeters on the edge of despair and struggles with the temptation to give up. But he knows there is no going back, so he puts his head down and determines to go on.
Stage Eight: The Great Ordeal:
For the hero the great ordeal is his own colossal struggle with the dragon. The great ordeal may take many different forms. In the spiritual life it could be struggles with family trauma, with sexuality, with temptations to lust, greed, vanity, power or obedience. Furthermore, the great ordeal will often be a long-running battle with no quick or easy victory. With divine assistance, determination, sharp intellect and a strong will, the hero eventually overcomes and gains the prize.
Stage Nine: Claiming the Prize:
In an Indiana Jones movie the hero gets the Ark of the Covenant or the holy grail. In the spiritual quest the hero attains a closer union with Christ. This gift is granted through God’s mercy as we co operate with grace. Knowing that “grace perfects nature,” the prize is a deeper union with Christ and further progress to the final prize of eternal life.
Stage Ten: A New Level of Life:
The hero’s quest is complete as the hero enters a new and enhanced level of life. He lives within a state of grace and becomes the channel of grace in the world that God has created him to be. In other words, he has come closer to being a saint. This new level of life is one that shares daily in the life of the crucified and resurrected Lord. While there may still be struggles, those struggles are integrated into a life that is in closer union with Christ day by day.
Reflecting on the hero’s quest should challenge all of us to examine our ordinary world and ask God to help us to hear the call to follow his Son more closely on the quest to Christian perfection.
Fr Longenecker is the author of The Way of the Wilderness Warrior and twenty other books on Catholic apologetics, culture and faith. Browse his books and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com
