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Heroes In The Midst Of Gods: A Narratological Study Of Heroes And The Divine In Mesopotamian, Greco-Roman, And Abrahamic Otherworldly Journeys, Zachary James Dey

MA in Religion Theses

The project at hand uncovers two dominant morals of Western otherworldly journeys: herocentrism and theocentrism. The former moral stresses the heroism of the protagonist; the latter stresses God’s presence and power in the universe. Although otherworldly journeys from various traditions present certain similarities, the underlying morals provide profound differences that warrant consideration. Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” and this thesis’ proposed Otherworldly Paradigm bring to light these underlying morals. This thesis demonstrates that Mesopotamian and Greco-Roman otherworldly journeys present a hero-centered moral, as shown through the monomyth, and the Abrahamic traditions present a Divine-centered moral, as shown through the proposed storyline.