"Occidental Mythology"

The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology
-by Joseph Campbell
1964
The intellectual fare swirling around george lucas' mind when he penned STAR WARS.
In scholarly terms, admittedly a dubious distinction. But campbell is a towering thinker, in the best sense. There being no dearth of critical review available, i'll make this brief.
If you wish to adhere to the notion that abraham, jesus, mohammed, or joe smith were the agents of allah, jahweh, god, or the stay-puft marshmallow man, THIS IS THE BOOK you should assiduously avoid. Instead of presenting a psychological refutation of the religious impulse, or diagram of the disasters such thought leads to (a la russell or hitchens), campbell simply takes the robes off world religions, to show where their ideas came from and what they actually have under there, substance-wise. He also shows how all religions, even those from East and West, have fed each other in global streams of shabby derivation. You're ready to get into the guts of understanding an immanent god compared to a transcendent one, and what you can expect from cultures founded on either? You're ready to understand why your own birthplace is exclusivist and intolerant, or syncretic and welcoming? Then you're ready for campbell.
And - are all those people with crucifixes on their neck showing their allegiance to jesus...or THOR?
This and more.