A Jungian and Psychoanalytic Approach to Biblical Myth and Religion

A Jungian and Psychoanalytic Approach to Biblical Myth and Religion
Author: Lionel Corbett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2024-12-23
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1040274978

This book describes some of the major psychological processes that underpin various biblical stories and some of the theological speculation to which they have given rise. Psychological biblical criticism, as described here, is suggested as an alternative or supplement to historical-cultural, textual, philological, literary, and other types of biblical criticism. Using a combination of Jungian and psychoanalytic theory, Corbett shows how some biblical material arises from human psychodynamics, while some originates in the archetypal level of the psyche and is further elaborated as it passes through the human level of the psyche. The author addresses some of the traditional anxieties about psychological approaches to biblical stories. He views Jung’s approach as an evolving mythology of the sacred that offers an alternative to purely theological approaches to the Bible and to the traditions that emerged from it. This book will be of value to practicing psychotherapists and analysts, particularly those who treat patients with a religious background, as well as trainees, clergy, and graduate students in this area.

Moses and Monotheism

Moses and Monotheism
Author: Sigmund Freud
Publisher: Leonardo Paolo Lovari
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2016-11-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 8898301790

The book consists of three essays and is an extension of Freud’s work on psychoanalytic theory as a means of generating hypotheses about historical events. Freud hypothesizes that Moses was not Hebrew, but actually born into Ancient Egyptian nobility and was probably a follower of Akhenaten, an ancient Egyptian monotheist. Freud contradicts the biblical story of Moses with his own retelling of events, claiming that Moses only led his close followers into freedom during an unstable period in Egyptian history after Akhenaten (ca. 1350 BCE) and that they subsequently killed Moses in rebellion and later combined with another monotheistic tribe in Midian based on a volcanic God, Jahweh. Freud explains that years after the murder of Moses, the rebels regretted their action, thus forming the concept of the Messiah as a hope for the return of Moses as the Saviour of the Israelites. Freud said that the guilt from the murder of Moses is inherited through the generations; this guilt then drives the Jews to religion to make them feel better.

A Jungian and Psychoanalytic Approach to Biblical Myth and Religion

A Jungian and Psychoanalytic Approach to Biblical Myth and Religion
Author: Lionel Corbett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-12-23
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781032882789

This book describes some of the major psychological processes that underpin various biblical stories and some of the theological speculation to which they have given rise. Psychological biblical criticism, as described here, is suggested as an alternative or supplement to historical-cultural, textual, philological, literary, and other types of biblical criticism. Using a combination of Jungian and psychoanalytic theory, Corbett shows how some biblical material arises from human psychodynamics, while some originates in the archetypal level of the psyche and is further elaborated as it passes through the human level of the psyche. The author addresses some of the traditional anxieties about psychological approaches to biblical stories. He views Jung's approach as an evolving mythology of the sacred that offers an alternative to purely theological approaches to the Bible and to the traditions that emerged from it. This book will be of value to practicing psychotherapists and analysts, particularly those who treat patients with a religious background, as well as trainees, clergy, and graduate students in this area.

Jung on Mythology

Jung on Mythology
Author: C. G. Jung
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-06-16
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0691214018

At least three major questions can be asked of myth: what is its subject matter? what is its origin? and what is its function? Theories of myth may differ on the answers they give to any of these questions, but more basically they may also differ on which of the questions they ask. C. G. Jung's theory is one of the few that purports to answer fully all three questions. This volume collects and organizes the key passages on myth by Jung himself and by some of the most prominent Jungian writers after him: Erich Neumann, Marie-Louise von Franz, and James Hillman. The book synthesizes the discovery of myth as a way of thinking, where it becomes a therapeutic tool providing an entrance to the unconscious. In the first selections, Jung begins to differentiate his theory from Freud's by asserting that there are fantasies and dreams of an "impersonal" nature that cannot be reduced to experiences in a person's past. Jung then asserts that the similarities among myths are the result of the projection of the collective rather than the personal unconscious onto the external world. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that myth originates and functions to satisfy the psychological need for contact with the unconscious--not merely to announce the existence of the unconscious, but to let us experience it.

Jung on Christianity

Jung on Christianity
Author: C. G. Jung
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 1999-10-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0691006970

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.

Psychological Biblical Criticism

Psychological Biblical Criticism
Author: D. Andrew Kille
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780800632465

This volume provides an introduction to psychological interpretations of the Hebrew Bible -- with the Garden of Eden story as a test case. It approaches the text from Freudian, Jungian, and Developmental psychologies, comparing and contrasting the different methods while taking on the hermeneutical issues. Ricoeur's work is used to establish criteria for adequate interpretation. Genesis 3 presents a fruitful text for psychological interpretation given its importance in Western culture. Its themes of sexuality, guilt, consciousness, and alienation are issues of great concern for everyone in our society. Kille's aim is to locate psychological criticism within the field of biblical studies and to propose a hermeneutical framework for describing and evaluating psychological approaches. The second part is devoted to analysis of different evaluations of Genesis 3 from the three chosen psychological perspectives.

Introduction to Religious Studies

Introduction to Religious Studies
Author: Paul O. Myhre
Publisher: Anselm Academic Christian Brothers Pub.
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780884899761

Filling the need for a clear, solid overview to introduction to religious studies courses, this text is neither too broad nor too narrow. Chapters explore what religion is and how it is formed and studied; religious experience; truth claims; ethics and moral theology; violence and religion; social involvement; religion and the environment; asceticism and mysticism; religion, technology, and science; religions and their words, stories, writings, and books; and more. The text respects cultural considerations and the contemporary global climate in showing religious studies in action and exploring questions of theory, method, and research. The contributing authors are in tune with college students' interests and are well suited to address the issues and methods of religious studies. Designed for college students taking their first course in the study of religion, such as introduction to religious studies and world religions.

Dreams in Myth, Medicine, and Movies

Dreams in Myth, Medicine, and Movies
Author: Sharon Packer MD
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2002-08-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0313012105

Cinema—invented just before psychoanalysis formally developed—primed the public and scholars to rethink ideas about dreams. The author describes how surrealist artists purposely applied Freudian dream theories to their art to make the public aware of modern ideas about dreams. Most of our current cultural consciousness about the psychological value of dreams is traced to classical and contemporary cinema. This work examines how residuals of past approaches to dreams make conceptions of dreams in psychoanalysis and science more complex than ever today. Scholars and students in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, cinema, medicine, and religion may find this volume useful. The book also examines academic psychiatry's increased emphasis in dream study on neuropsychiatry and psychopharmocology, as well as managed care's decreased compensation for dream therapy.

The Handbook of Jungian Psychology

The Handbook of Jungian Psychology
Author: Renos K. Papadopoulos
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2006
Genre: Jungian psychology
ISBN: 9781583911471

The Handbook of Jungian Psychology provides a comprehensive, systematic and competent treatment of the central tenets of Jung's work. It will be a unique source of authoritative information on Jungian psychology.