The (Missing) Motif of “Returning Home” from an Otherworldly Journey in Menippean Literature and the New Testament
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Nils Neumann
Abstract
Visionary accounts of otherworldly journeys form a well-known segment of ancient literature. Narrations of different cultural provenance describe how a hero travels to heaven or to the netherworld and in doing so gains some sort of boon that he or she carries back to the earthly sphere. Otherworldly journeys typically feature the elements of the narrative scheme of the so-called “Monomyth,” which Joseph Campbell described in his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The present chapter analyzes two prominent otherworldly journeys from the New Testament: one journey to Hades (Luke 16:19-31) and one to heaven (Rev 4:1-11). In comparing these biblical texts to narrations from the Menippean tradition (journeys to Hades in Lucian’s Cataplus and Necyomantia; journeys to heaven in Lucian’s Icaromenippus and Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis) it will be seen that unlike many of their ancient parallels the New Testament accounts lack the motif of “returning home” from the journey. How can this be explained?
Abstract
Visionary accounts of otherworldly journeys form a well-known segment of ancient literature. Narrations of different cultural provenance describe how a hero travels to heaven or to the netherworld and in doing so gains some sort of boon that he or she carries back to the earthly sphere. Otherworldly journeys typically feature the elements of the narrative scheme of the so-called “Monomyth,” which Joseph Campbell described in his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The present chapter analyzes two prominent otherworldly journeys from the New Testament: one journey to Hades (Luke 16:19-31) and one to heaven (Rev 4:1-11). In comparing these biblical texts to narrations from the Menippean tradition (journeys to Hades in Lucian’s Cataplus and Necyomantia; journeys to heaven in Lucian’s Icaromenippus and Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis) it will be seen that unlike many of their ancient parallels the New Testament accounts lack the motif of “returning home” from the journey. How can this be explained?
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Contributors VII
- Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Travel Experiences 1
- “And as They Travelled Eastward” (Gen 11:2): Travel in the Book of Genesis and the Anonymous Travelers in the Tower of Babel Account 11
- The Consolations of Travel: Reading Seneca’s Ad Marciam vis-à-vis Paul of Tarsus 33
- The (Missing) Motif of “Returning Home” from an Otherworldly Journey in Menippean Literature and the New Testament 55
- The Educational Aspect of the Lukan Travel Narrative: Jesus as a Πεπαιδευμένος 73
- Acts of the Apostles—A Celebration of Uncertainty? Constructing a Dialogical Self for the Early Jesus Movement 97
- “Today or Tomorrow We Will Go to Such and Such a City” (Jas 4:13): The Experience of Interconnectivity and the Mobility of Norms in the Ancient Globalized World 113
- Heavenly Journey and Divine Epistemology in the Fourth Gospel 145
- Following Vespasian in His Footsteps: Movement and (E)motion Management in Josephus’ Judean War 161
- Religion on the Road—Nehalennia Revisited: Voyagers Addressing a North Sea Deity in the Second Century CE 181
- Mapping Cosmological Space in the Apocalypse of Paul and the Visio Pauli: The Actualization of Virtual Spatiality in Two Pauline Apocalyptical Journeys based on 2 Cor 12:2–4 189
- The Travels of Barnabas: From the Acts of the Apostles to Late Antique Hagiographic Literature 229
- Rabbinic Geography: Between the Imaginary and Real 251
- The Journey of Zayd Ibn ʿAmr: In Search of True Worship 269
- Nautical Fiction of Late Antiquity: Jews and Christians Traveling by Sea 295
- Monasteries as Travel Loci for Muslims and Christians (500–1000 CE) 313
- Sachregister 337
- Stellenregister 341
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Contributors VII
- Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Travel Experiences 1
- “And as They Travelled Eastward” (Gen 11:2): Travel in the Book of Genesis and the Anonymous Travelers in the Tower of Babel Account 11
- The Consolations of Travel: Reading Seneca’s Ad Marciam vis-à-vis Paul of Tarsus 33
- The (Missing) Motif of “Returning Home” from an Otherworldly Journey in Menippean Literature and the New Testament 55
- The Educational Aspect of the Lukan Travel Narrative: Jesus as a Πεπαιδευμένος 73
- Acts of the Apostles—A Celebration of Uncertainty? Constructing a Dialogical Self for the Early Jesus Movement 97
- “Today or Tomorrow We Will Go to Such and Such a City” (Jas 4:13): The Experience of Interconnectivity and the Mobility of Norms in the Ancient Globalized World 113
- Heavenly Journey and Divine Epistemology in the Fourth Gospel 145
- Following Vespasian in His Footsteps: Movement and (E)motion Management in Josephus’ Judean War 161
- Religion on the Road—Nehalennia Revisited: Voyagers Addressing a North Sea Deity in the Second Century CE 181
- Mapping Cosmological Space in the Apocalypse of Paul and the Visio Pauli: The Actualization of Virtual Spatiality in Two Pauline Apocalyptical Journeys based on 2 Cor 12:2–4 189
- The Travels of Barnabas: From the Acts of the Apostles to Late Antique Hagiographic Literature 229
- Rabbinic Geography: Between the Imaginary and Real 251
- The Journey of Zayd Ibn ʿAmr: In Search of True Worship 269
- Nautical Fiction of Late Antiquity: Jews and Christians Traveling by Sea 295
- Monasteries as Travel Loci for Muslims and Christians (500–1000 CE) 313
- Sachregister 337
- Stellenregister 341
