Pathways with Joseph Campbell

In this 1966 lecture recorded at the Cooper Union, Joseph Campbell presents mythology as humanity’s oldest response to the awareness of death and selfhood. Across cultures, myth arises not as history but as symbolic language - shaped by shared human concerns about mortality, belonging, and the mystery of existence. While societies differ, the core mythic themes remain constant, revealing a common psychological ground beneath cultural variation.Campbell contrasts Western and Eastern interpretations of the same mythic images - the Garden, the Tree, the Serpent - to show that myth points not to obedience or belief, but to awakening. As modern society becomes more stable, the role of myth shifts from protecting the group to transforming the individual. The true heroic journey, he suggests, is not escape from the world, but the discovery of timeless meaning within the act of living itself. Host, Bradley Olson, introduces the lecture and offers commentary at the end. Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, John Bucher. Editing and audio services by Tristan Batt. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

Recorded in 1963 for WNET-TV New York, this rare lecture features Joseph Campbell guiding us through the long, layered emergence of The Gods of Egypt, tracing how five millennia of cultural mingling—from Paleolithic hunters to Neolithic farmers to Near Eastern migrants—slowly shaped the myths that would define Egyptian civilization. Campbell follows the evolution of sacred animals, mother-goddess figures, burial rites, and symbolic art that culminated in the unification of Egypt and the rise of the pharaoh as a living embodiment of cosmic order. He then unfolds the great mythic drama of Osiris, Isis, Horus, and the solar god Re, showing how themes of death, rebirth, and divine kingship became the spiritual heartbeat of the Nile. This bonus episode offers a vivid, revealing look at how Egypt’s iconic gods were not born fully formed, but forged across centuries of imagination and ritual Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, John Bucher. Editing and audio services by Tristan Batt. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this episode of Pathways with Joseph Campbell, we explore Campbell’s 1976 lecture Symbols of the Christian Faith, where he examines how the great motifs of Christianity - creation, fall, redemption, virgin birth, resurrection - are not literal events to be defended but universal metaphors meant to open us to the mystery of being. Campbell shows how these symbols appear across cultures, pointing toward a shared psychological and spiritual vocabulary. He reflects on why traditional symbols lose their power in the modern world, and why reclaiming their inward, transformative meaning matters more than ever. Rather than asking whether these stories are fact, Campbell invites us to ask the deeper question: What are these symbols doing in you? Host Bradley Olson introduces the lecture and offers a commentary at the end. Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, John Bucher. Editing and audio services by Tristan Batt. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this bonus lecture from Campbell’s WNDT TV days in the early 1960's, The Shaman and the Priest, he contrasts two ancient spiritual lineages: the lone visionary who gains power through ordeal, and the priest who serves the continuity of the community. Moving from Paleolithic hunters to Pueblo rituals, he shows how these twin archetypes shape cultures—and the inner life of each of us. Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, John Bucher. Editing and audio services by Tristan Batt. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this episode, we present audio from two rare televised lectures from Joseph Campbell’s early public-broadcast career - Dead Sea Scrolls and No God but God - originally aired on WNDT in New York in the early 1960s.In these archival recordings, Campbell traces humanity’s spiritual crossroads — from Paleolithic caves and Near Eastern temples to the Essene community at Qumran and the dawn of apocalyptic thought.He examines the Dead Sea Scrolls as the voice of a community bracing for the end of days, and explores how Greek philosophy, Persian dualism, Hebrew prophecy, and emerging Christian teachings collided and transformed one another.Broadcast decades before The Power of Myth, these talks capture Campbell in a more structured, scholarly television mode — yet still pulsing with the fire of myth, history, and spiritual imagination.A window into the mythic ferment before the birth of Western religious consciousness — and a glimpse of Campbell before he became a household name.Host Bradley Olson offers an introduction and commentary at the end of the lecture. Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, John Bucher. Editing and audio services by Tristan Batt. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)