Culture Heroes
CULTURE HEROES. The culture hero is a mythical being found in the religious traditions of many archaic societies. Although the culture hero sometimes assists the supreme being in the creation of the world, the most important activity for the culture hero occurs after creation: making the world habitable and safe for humankind. The culture hero establishes institutions for humans, brings them cultural goods, and instructs them in the arts of civilization. Thus, the hero introduces culture to human beings.
The culture hero, unlike the supreme being, is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In some cases, the hero's behavior resembles that of a clown or buffoon; in the myths of many North American Indian tribes the culture hero appears as the trickster. Various scholars have referred to the culture hero as transformer, demiurge, culture bringer, héros civilisateur, and, most frequently, Heilbringer.
History of Scholarship
The German historian Kurt Breysig first introduced the term Heilbringer in 1905. Since then, the idea of the culture hero has been interpreted in various ways. Early interpretations emphasized the place of the culture hero in the evolution of the idea of a supreme being. Breysig, for example, saw the culture hero as belonging to a stage of religious development that was not only earlier than, but also inferior to, humankind's awareness of a personal supreme being.
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