The Christian Hero Story Formula Taught Christian Morality to Older Generations

northwye

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The Christian Hero Story Formula Taught Christian Morality to Older Generations

The Christian Hero formula story, with its the King Arthur beginnings was a way to communicate Christian Morality to earlier generations of Americans, mostly ending before the coming of age of the Baby Boomers. This means that the Korean War Generation was the last American generation educated in Christian morality by the Hero Story formula. I am not talking about a story formula taught in Sunday School, but about popular narratives which had an influence upon culture. The Christian Hero Story was read as fiction and later viewed as films.

The American Image Culture replaced the Christian Hero story and came into opposition to the Cowboy Hero version of the Christian Hero Story in the fifties and soon after, and the celebrity with image began to replace the Christian Hero with his teaching of Christian Morality into the American Culture. However, there were TV shows in the fifties still making use of the Christian Hero Story Formula, like Gun Smoke and Rawhide.

The opposition to the Christian Hero story began in the U.S. before the time of the Counterculture and Marxist Transformational Political Correctness. Of course, political correctness opposes the Christian Hero even more than does the Image Culture. For Marxist political correctness, the Christian Hero Story Formula is a big part of that culture supporting Christianity and the Family which must be abolished in order for Marxist collectivism to dominate.

The Christian Hero Story Formula began from the use of the King Arthur material to create a Christian Hero Story Formula seen, for example, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's work. The King Arthur Christian Hero Story was translated into the Cowboy Hero Story Formula by the time of the early to mid 20th century. Then, the Cowboy Story Formula was overthrown as a contribution to American Culture during and after the fifties.

The Arthurian Christian Hero Story Formula may have been translated into the Cowboy Hero Story in part by the influence of the American Cavalier Tradition, for example in.the work of Walter Scott, which supported the Virginia Cavalier Culture. It is interesting that this strand of Christian Influence upon American and Western culture in the Christian Hero Story was opposed by another American Christian tradition, that of the New England Puritans.

See: AMERICA and HER COWBOYS

"Do Americans have a national epic (like Britain’s Beowulf, Spain’s Don Quixote or Egypt’s Story of Sinuhe)? Do Americans have ancient characters doing heroic deeds, like King Arthur and his Round-Table Knights?"

"But what Americans do have are stories—sometimes more legend than real—about the "Wild West" and the "American Frontier." Some of those stories originated when the nineteenth-century U.S. media spun tales about heroic cowboys fighting-off Indians and animals in the "Old West."

"With their reckless individualism, these cowboys drove cattle, braved all kinds of elements and sometimes got into serious trouble. When they did, fearless and heroic lawmen would take them down at high noon on a dirt-covered street in some western town."

The American Cowboy of Myth came out of the South Texas Cowboy or Gringo Vaquero of reality, more than out of the California version of the American adaptation of the large scale Mexican cattle handing tradition.

From about 1940 to 1960 one fourth of Hollywood films were Westerns. Many of these Western movies followed in part the formula of the Christian Hero Story, which is seen in some of the King Arthur myths. Yet Hollywood was wrecking the Christian Hero Story during this period.

In the Western Cowboy Hero Story there is always a clear and vigorous opposition between transgressive behavior by a villain and the defeat of that evil behavior by the Cowboy Hero.

The Western narrative was the chief American myth and for this reason Christian morality could be taught to people in our culture by the Western Story Formula.

In addition, in the Western hero story basic Christian morality could be taught to young people in America by this story formula because it made very clear, in great detail, the kinds of behavior which is against Christian morality and the rights of the individual (Isaiah 10: 1-2).

A formula story is one in which which types of evil - or transgressive behavior by villains - is repeated over and over in different settings and situations, and by different villains.. This teaches morality to readers and viewers.

The Range War Western Story formula could make readers and viewers clearly aware of the kinds of evil transgressive behavior which could be carried out by community insiders as immoral big ranchers, bankers, politicans or businessmen.

Among Western writers,Ernest Haycox developed the types of transgressive behavior carried out by the insider and respected villains, as in Chaffee of Roaring Horse (1929). Haycox also developed the formula actions and characterizations of the Cowboy Hero in the Range War Western.

There were some Range War Western Story Formula actions carried out by the Bureau of Land Management in the still ongoing Range War involving Cliven Bundy and his family. The Bundy Range War has moved into the federal courts.

The cowboy is a lone wolf, "El Lobo Solitario," "El brasadero en exilio." His myth came up the cattle trails from the land of thickets known as the Brasada, the brush country. It started back in the days of the Republic of Texas. Yet somehow the Christian Hero story migrated from its beginnings in the King Arthur myths made into hero stories to the American Cowboy. In the transition from noblemen and Cavaliers, the Christian hero became a common man, the American cowboy of reality and myth.

In many states on the Great Planes now, the independent rancher who grows range fed beef and his cowboy laborers are being phased out by a society and government hostile to their independent and self-reliant and sometimes eccentric ways. Corporate owned pen feeding of cattle for consumption is the replacement for the organic range fed beef of the independent rancher and cowboy.

The cowboy and rancher of reality in the late 19th century and early 20th century is interesting because his personality traits contrast more and more with those of people in the U.S. after about 1950 and especially after about 1970, and even more so in 2017. Many of the traits of the cowboy were just the opposite of those of many Americans now. He was too much of an individualist and too self-sufficient to be tolerated in the America of 2017.

"Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by." "Under Ben Bulben" by William Butler Yeats
Reply http://theologyonline.com/private.php?do=newpm&forward=1&pmid=373286
 
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ViaCrucis

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I'll be honest--I haven't a clue what it is you're actually trying to say. It seems like a waxing nostalgia for the past; but what has any of it to do with Christian morality? What is this "Christian Hero Story"? What makes it Christian? What are its morals?

-CryptoLutheran
 
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northwye

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I am not too interested in getting into debates (Romans 1: 28-29) about the Christian Hero Story. It was something that older American generations read and watched as movies, and apparently something that the younger generations do not know about

Although there is not good evidence that King Arthur was a historical person, yet the stories about him did provide a beginning for the Christian Hero Narrative.

See: Celtic Mythology in the Arthurian Legend - Medievalists.net

"The Arthurian legend is one of the most important texts in the English literary tradition. It is one of the core texts of medieval English literature and it is also considered to be one of the most powerful texts of the ancient times."

God Save the King: 5 Nods to Religion in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

"While Arthur himself is unquestionably a Christian hero, some scholars point to lots of pagan influences in his story"

In the Cowboy Hero Story grammar the cowboy who is regenerated overcomes transgressive behavior. And in the formula range war Western, this cowboy of the wilderness frontier defeats the villain who is a society insider and is respected as a banker, business man or big rancher.

Michael T. Marsden in Savior In the Saddle: The Sagebrush Testament (In Jack Nachbar, Focus On the Western, 1974) says to see the Western hero "...as a coming together of certain elements from the Old and New Testaments and to see through him the creation of a Sagebrush Testament with its own ethos...The savior-like nature of the Western hero is nowhere more clearly manifested than in Gorge Steven's masterful Shane (1953). Allan Ladd at the beginning of the film moves slowly down the Grand Teton Mountains from the West."

See: https://wetbin.com/jack-schaefers-novel-shane/

"Jack Schaefer’s novel Shane is a work that at first glance seems political in a direction which could cause it to be affiliated as an ally of socialist theory, as a story that puts forth a hero who stands for the common man and fights off the tyranny of capitalist expansion, using force as an absolute last resort, but using it, nonetheless, when it proves necessary."

"This book’s plot displays a struggle that is paramount to the plot of the novel: the struggle of a group of farmers attempting to hold on to their land against a rancher who wants nothing but profit and will stop at nothing to force the farmers off of their land, even going so far as murder.
Jack Schaefer’s novel Shane is a work that at first glance seems political in a direction which could cause it to be affiliated as an ally of socialist theory, as a story that puts forth a hero who stands for the common man and fights off the tyranny of capitalist expansion, using force as an absolute last resort, but using it, nonetheless, when it proves necessary.

"Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2. To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!" Isaiah 10: 1-2

The insider and respected big rancher was violating the rights of the farmers to hold on to their lands. This is immoral as seen in Isaiah 10: 1-2. The hero Shane comes to prevent that transgressive behavior from happening. Shane is upholding Christian morality. But it is unlikely that such a hero would appear to prevent the villain from stealing the lands belonging to the farmers. Yet the Cowboy Hero is there to show viewers that the behavior of stealing the land belonging to the farmers in evil and immoral.
 
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ViaCrucis

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I am not too interested in getting into debates (Romans 1: 28-29) about the Christian Hero Story. It was something that older American generations read and watched as movies, and apparently something that the younger generations do not know about.

Seems weird to start a discussion and then refuse to discuss it, or even bother to actually explain what you're talking about, but that's your prerogative.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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FireDragon76

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I prefer Clint Eastwood's westerns, at least he dispenses with all the white-hat nonsense. In some ways, his anti-hero films deconstruct that "Christian Hero Story" and show its often just a farce that has been used to marginalize and oppress others in an expedient fashion by appropriating the symbols of the oppressed.
 
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northwye

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The narratives of the popular culture that the Baby Boomer Generation grew up under did not include the teaching of some Christian Morality. It may be that these people and the even younger generation on Christian forums do not understand this.

The popular culture before the fifties did teach some Christian morality, and that extended into the fifties for some TV shows.

Someone mentioned Clint Eastwood as being an "anti-hero." Eastwood belongs to the Korean War generation, the last generation taught some Christian morals by the popular culture. Eastwood is not a Leftist, and holds to many patriot and populist principles.
 
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~Anastasia~

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That readers on a Christian forum in 2017 do not understand that this thread is about popular culture, and how it has changed since the fifties is predictable.
The disconnect may be that you chose to post it in Traditional Theology, which has a particular purpose. And one very hard to relate to your topic, so I think it was natural to ask what it is you were trying to say. I wondered too when I saw it but didn't have time to ask and figured it would come out.

There is nothing wrong with your thread. It just isn't relatable to the forum in which you've placed it, almost by definition. Which isn't a crime ... just leads to a lot of folk scratching their heads, wondering what it is exactly you're meaning to say.
 
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northwye

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Before I posted this thread on the Christian Hero Story Formula within the popular culture I looked for a forum where it might fit in, but found none.

What do those who post here mean by Traditional Theology?
"For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do." Mark 7: 8

But I doubt if this is what is meant by Traditional Theology.

It could refer to Roman Catholicism? Within Protestantism, it might refer to Lutheranism or Reformed Theology?
 
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~Anastasia~

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Before I posted this thread on the Christian Hero Story Formula within the popular culture I looked for a forum where it might fit in, but found none.

What do those who post here mean by Traditional Theology?
"For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do." Mark 7: 8

But I doubt if this is what is meant by Traditional Theology.

It could refer to Roman Catholicism? Within Protestantism, it might refer to Lutheranism or Reformed Theology?

For an explanation, please see the Statement of Purpose.

Statement of Purpose - Traditional Theology Statement of Purpose

Catholics are traditional Christians, as are Lutherans. I can't speak for Reformed as I don't know exactly how they would stand on things.


By the way ... when the Scriptures refer to "traditions" in a negative context, they are often translating the same word that elsewhere they might translate as "teaching" when it's a positive context - but the word in Greek is often the same. It can be a bias in some translations.
 
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northwye

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"For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do." Mark 7: 8

Strong's Greek: 3862. παράδοσις (paradosis) -- a handing down or over, a tradition

The word in Mark 7: 8 that is translated as tradition is παραδοσιν, paradosin, which the site above says means " a handing down or over, a tradition, Original Word: παράδοσις, εως, ἡ
Short Definition: an instruction, tradition
Definition: an instruction, tradition."

"3862 parádosis (from 3844 /pará, "from close-beside" and 1325 /dídōmi, "give over") – properly, give (hand over) from close-beside, referring to tradition as passed on from one generation to the next."

3862 is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Greek number.
 
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~Anastasia~

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"For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do." Mark 7: 8

Strong's Greek: 3862. παράδοσις (paradosis) -- a handing down or over, a tradition

The word in Mark 7: 8 that is translated as tradition is παραδοσιν, paradosin, which the site above says means " a handing down or over, a tradition, Original Word: παράδοσις, εως, ἡ
Short Definition: an instruction, tradition
Definition: an instruction, tradition."

"3862 parádosis (from 3844 /pará, "from close-beside" and 1325 /dídōmi, "give over") – properly, give (hand over) from close-beside, referring to tradition as passed on from one generation to the next."

3862 is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Greek number.

Forgive me, I'm unsure if you are making a point or asking a question?

"Traditioned" as a loose translation of the Greek is the passing down of, transmission of something. I am speaking of the verb form as applied to Holy Tradition.

It is that which was received as the deposit of faith, and handed down (traditioned) to future generations.

Again, please refer to the Statement of Purpose, if that helps. Please let us know if you need clarification. :)
 
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