3 Maccabees as a monomyth

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title 3 Maccabees as a monomyth
 
Creator Allen, Nicholas P.L.
 
Subject — 3 Maccabees; monomyth; Judaism; hero myth; initiation rite
Description The story of the hero, as a rite of passage, is often seen as a narratological quest, which because of the work of Campbell is now referred to as the monomyth. The basic pattern of all monomyths is an account of how a hero commences a journey, encounters a major crisis and then returns back home transformed in some way. Most importantly, this transformation not only advantages the hero but also significantly benefits the community that he or she originally hails from. Regardless of the authority concerned, the basic structure of a monomyth is tripartite, embracing the hero’s journey in three phases: departure, initiation and return. A surface reading of 3 Maccabees (cf. Charles 1913:155–173; Amir 1972:660–661) gives the impression that if one views the Jewish people as a single entity, one can infer that they too appear to play a role similar to the character of the hero in a typical monomyth or the rite of passage (initiation). This article attempts to examine this possibility in more detail. The author concludes that the narrative in 3 Maccabees, which deals with the transformation of the Jewish population in Egypt, largely conforms to the monomyth archetype but with some intriguing subtle differences.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-11-21
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v75i3.5497
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 75, No 3 (2019); 6 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5497/14014 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5497/14013 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5497/14015 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5497/14012
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Nicholas P.L. Allen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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