SOURCE: King, Karen L. “Social Factors in Mythic Knowing: Joseph Campbell and Christian Gnosis.” In Paths to the Power of Myth: Joseph Campbell and the Study of Religion, edited by Daniel C. Noel, pp. 68-80. New York: Crossroad, 1990.

In the following essay, King examines Campbell's treatment of Gnosticism.

The symbolic field is based on the experiences of people in a particular community, at that particular time and place. Myths are so intimately bound to the culture, time, and place that unless the symbols, the metaphors, are kept alive by constant recreation through the arts, the life just slips away from them.¹

In his conversations with Bill Moyers, recorded in the book and television series The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell succeeds in bringing the study of religion to the attention of a wide public audience. For scholars and teachers, his lesson of engagement with the concerns of the...