Jung And Christianity In Dialogue

PSYCHOLOGY/POP PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. Dourley, Catholic priest and professor of religion, explores Jung's assessment of Christianity, questioning its essentially masculine orientation and its emphasis on perfection, rather than wholeness, as the goal.

Expounding on the Jungian concept that the human soul has both male and female dimensions, the author describes how male-female relationships are influenced by, and must take into account, the feminine part of a man and the masculine part of a female.

C. G. Jung, son of a Swiss Reformed pastor, used his Christian background throughout his career to illuminate the psychological roots of all religions. Jung believed religion was a profound, psychological response to the unknown--both the inner self and the outer worlds--and he understood Christianity to be a profound meditation on the meaning of the life of Jesus of Nazareth within the context of Hebrew spirituality and the Biblical worldview. Murray Stein's introduction relates Jung's personal relationship with Christianity to his psychological views on religion in general, his hermeneutic of religious thought, and his therapeutic attitude toward Christianity. This volume includes extensive selections from Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity," "Christ as a Symbol of the Self," from Aion, "Answer to Job," letters to Father Vincent White from Letters, and many more.

A collection of the best articles dealing with this topic during the last twenty years.

Jung's correspondence with one of the twentieth century's leading theologians and ecumenicists On Theology and Psychology brings together C. G. Jung's correspondence with Adolf Keller, a celebrated Protestant theologian who was one of the pioneers of the modern ecumenical movement and one of the first religious leaders to become interested in analytical psychology. Their relationship spanned half a century, and for many years Keller was the only major religious leader to align himself with Jung and his ideas. Both men shared a lifelong engagement with questions of faith, and each grappled with God in his own distinctive way. Presented here in English for the first time are letters that provide a rare look at Jung in dialogue with a theologian. Spanning some fifty years, these letters reveal an extended intellectual and spiritual discourse between two very different men as they exchange views on the nature of the divine, the compatibility of Jungian psychology and Christianity, the interpretation of the Bible and figures such as Jesus and Job, and the phenomenon of National Socialism. Although Keller was powerfully attracted to Jung's ideas, his correspondence with the famed psychiatrist demonstrates that he avoided discipleship. Both men struggled with essential questions about human existence, spirituality, and well-being, and both sought common ground where the concerns of psychologists and theologians converge. Featuring an illuminating introduction by Marianne Jehle-Wildberger, On Theology and Psychology offers incomparable insights into the development of Jung's views on theology and religion, and a unique window into a spiritual and intellectual friendship unlike any other.

This book brings together the work of Carl Gustav Jung and Hans Urs von Balthasar, two of the most creative thinkers in psychology and theology in the twentieth century, to critically compare their ideas on the perennial question of God’s involvement with evil. In later life Jung embarked on a project relating to Christianity, with psychotherapeutic and theological intentions, forming his collection of essays, Symbolik des Geistes, in which God and evil was a major theme. Balthasar gave significant attention to Jung’s psychology in his own theological trilogy, but opposed the approach to God and evil that Jung presented. In this book Les Oglesby provides a thorough examination of convergences and divergences in Jung and Balthasar’s thinking, their different approaches to the origins and reality of evil, as well as their alternative theological orientations. The book culminates with a study of each man’s understanding of the central event of Christianity, Christ’s death on the Cross and his descent to the dead and discusses how Balthasar’s ‘vertical’ and Jung’s ‘horizontal’ approach to this major happening can be held together fruitfully with one another. Illustrating how analytical psychology and Christian theology can mutually enrich one another when they are held in creative tension, this book invites reflection on the meaning of the central symbol of Christianity, and God’s involvement with evil as an aid to integrated psychological living and theological maturity. It will prove fascinating for students of psychology and religion as well as for Jungian analysts and practical theologians.