What is the author's tone in the book, Thou Art That?

In Thou Art That, editor Eugene Kennedy pulls together the late Joseph Campbell's ideas on Judaism and Christianity as they relate to the universal mythology of humankind. Much of it is based on Campbell's sharing of his vast knowledge with audiences in question-and-answer periods after lectures. Campbell is a pioneer and partisan of an uncomfortable and unpopular cause: helping Western civilization realize that by insisting on the exclusivity and historicity of their religions, they are vitiating the eternal meaning of those myths. From the point of view of his vast learning, acquired over a lifetime (a brief biography is included at the end of the book), Campbell speaks objectively. Fundamentalists would claim he is highly subjective, prejudiced, and wrong. It helps that Chapter 1 opens with Campbell debating myth as lie or metaphor with a radio personality.

Editor Kennedy in the foreword describes how he hopes to capture some of the dynamism of Campbell's spoken work in written form. Kennedy leaves in many asides on favorite Campbell topics that break the train of thought and create a detracting repetitiousness. He misses some misprints or misstatements, the worst being counterbalancing Philistines rather than the Pharisees to the Sadducees. Doubtless if Campbell had prepared this text it would have been tighter. As it is, the book should bring to Western readers many insights into Judaism, Christianity, and how they relate to the universal myths of the world. The mass of information speaks volumes in supporting Campbell's thesis that humans must become tolerant and forward-looking rather than retrenching in in-groups and defending their own turf.