This section in the series The Christian Shadow has been about the ways, contrary to Jung’s accusations, Christian teaching and practice helps the faithful engage with the shadow, the dark parts of ourselves we’d rather not exist, and certainly not come into the light of day. Over the next two posts, I’m going to end … Continue reading Shadow and the Sacraments, Part 1: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist
In Thursday’s post, we saw how the general Christian call to repentance, which is embodied not only in conversion, but also in the rituals of baptism and confession, is a call to address the shadow — those parts of ourselves we reject or deny as being ‘us’. Today I’d like to explore how other sacred … Continue reading Shadow and Sacred Practices
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?
Matthew Root 