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
When I was in my late teens, and was at the peak of my interest in the charismatic movement, I had an experience of being ‘slain in the Spirit.’ While I don’t know what to make of that experience looking back, still there’s nothing quite like being pinned to the floor for a half hour … Continue reading Divine Glory and Human Weakness: A Reflection on Isaiah 6.1-8
Last time, we looked at some of the ways our creation stories can help and hinder a Christian journey towards wholeness. The second of the two creation narratives in Genesis, of course, ends in the famous story Adam and Eve being cast out of Paradise after being tempted into eating the fruit of the Tree … Continue reading The Shadow and the Fall
On Friday we explored Jung’s claims that the Christian conception of God are insufficient to promote wholeness — that by pushing vast swaths of experience outside the divine, it instead promotes the division of the self into shadow and persona. In that post, I maintained that there are different ways of reading the Scriptures, that … Continue reading The Shadow and Creation
Matthew Root 