Today this series on the intersections of Christianity and the Jungian idea of the shadow comes to an end. It’s been a bit disorganized and all over the place, but I do hope it’s been interesting and beneficial. The main idea is simply this: that the stories we tell, including and especially our religious stories, … Continue reading The Christian Shadow: Concluding Thoughts
One of the most famous aspects of Carl Jung’s thought was the idea of archetypes. We can think of archetypes as the stock characters, plots, and tropes that form the basis of our stories and understanding of the world. While these have strong cultural elements (for example, the archetype of the dutiful son is far … Continue reading Archetypes and the Lives of the Saints
At the very start of his earthly ministry, Jesus proclaims “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4.17). I’ve long maintained that repentance is more than just about acknowledging our sins (though this is unquestionably an essential part of it), but is really about taking on a whole new way of seeing … Continue reading The Shadow and the Beatitudes
Towards the start of this series, we looked at Carl Jung’s simultaneous critique of Christian doctrine and abiding appreciation for the figure of Christ himself. There we saw how the traditional, biblical Christian understanding of faith existed in a place of healthy creative tension between the two opposites Jung proposed, imitation (which he didn’t like) … Continue reading Shadow Integration and the Incarnation
In an earlier post in this series, we talked a bit about how rituals of belonging — such as baptism, chrismation/confirmation, and the Eucharist — run the risk of hardening rather than softening the shadow by creating ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, which was the opposite of Christ’s message and what his work set out to accomplish … Continue reading The Shadow and Chosenness
Matthew Root 