One of the big questions in any religious or philosophical tradition is ‘What does a good (or holy) life look like?’ Often there are two poles, which we might call the ‘purity’ pole, where goodness is judged by adherence to rules and strictness of behaviour, and the ‘celebration’ pole, where goodness is judged instead on … Continue reading Of Water and Wine (And Joy!): A Reflection on John 2.1-11
In the most recent post in this series exploring the idea of Christianity’s ‘shadow’, we looked at some of Carl Jung’s arguments that Christian teaching promotes the individual and collective shadow (those parts of us we reject and try to hide from ourselves and others) rather than dealing with it honestly. My problem with this … Continue reading Shadow, Repentance, and Confession
For a man who was known for his strong critiques of Christianity and the so-called ‘Christian’ culture of Western Europe, Carl Jung was a big fan of Christ himself. In fact some of the most beautiful and powerful words I’ve ever read about Christ and the possibilities within Christianity were from Jung’s own pen. As … Continue reading The Way of Christ: Imitation or Individuation?
Today, the Sunday after Epiphany, is when we here in the West commemorate the baptism of Jesus at the hands of John the Baptist. It’s a formative event in Jesus’ life, and functions as his ‘call to action’, marking him as special to those around him and confirming his identity. It’s also the narrative passing … Continue reading Ritual and Rebirth: A Reflection on the Baptism of Christ
For better or for worse, we humans are storied people. Not only are we shaped by our personal and national experiences, but we also tend to assume those experiences are universal. And so, St. Augustine struggled with reining in his libido and so developed a theology that linked the Fall to sex, Martin Luther struggled … Continue reading Christianity, Shadow, and Jung’s Diagnosis of Modern Europe
Matthew Root 