Hero's Journey and "Jesus"
The hero's arc is not new in eastern literature either. There are other variations, of course, but it seems to me that the hero's journey is not limited to western literature. Also, remember, Christianity is relatively new. Do we not find similar hero's journeys in pre-Christ literature (the story of Moses, for example)? I think we're simply identifying "Jesus" as the most prominent because of the world we live in now, and the prominence of Christianity in our modern, western societies. However, I am only offering to push it even further, and to realize that it's really not "Jesus," but the whole universality of the hero archetype and growth arc.
The fact is that eastern literature, of pre-Christ or post-Christ periods, also follow similar arcs. Many tragic hero stories (famous war heroes, etc.) have almost exact arcs, except, instead of "religion" they speak of "spirituality, honor, etc." -- Confucius philosophies if you will. (One only needs to look at the story of "Fa Mulan" -- is Mulan a "Jesus" character? I can tell you her story has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity).
Similarly, one can argue that the western culture as a whole was really not built on Christianity, but rather the Greek philosophies (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, etc.)
Therefore, I am skeptical about the whole "Jesus" identification... perhaps it's relevant for modern time western literature... but I still challenge... that archetype and arc exist before Christ... I feel like we are saying roses are red, and since roses are the most beautiful flower, from now on if anything is red, we call it rosy... we forget that red comes before rose.
The fact is that eastern literature, of pre-Christ or post-Christ periods, also follow similar arcs. Many tragic hero stories (famous war heroes, etc.) have almost exact arcs, except, instead of "religion" they speak of "spirituality, honor, etc." -- Confucius philosophies if you will. (One only needs to look at the story of "Fa Mulan" -- is Mulan a "Jesus" character? I can tell you her story has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity).
Similarly, one can argue that the western culture as a whole was really not built on Christianity, but rather the Greek philosophies (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, etc.)
Therefore, I am skeptical about the whole "Jesus" identification... perhaps it's relevant for modern time western literature... but I still challenge... that archetype and arc exist before Christ... I feel like we are saying roses are red, and since roses are the most beautiful flower, from now on if anything is red, we call it rosy... we forget that red comes before rose.
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