Description
Topics: Religion and Spirituality.
Theology as Psychology: A Jungian Approach to the Bible
This program explores how the Bible is transformed when seen from a Jungian point of view. Looked at psychologically, the Bible is to be read symbolically rather than literally. Rather than describing outer events, such as the creation of the world, in this reading it describes inner worlds, such as the creation of consciousness. The subject matter ceases to be other persons, for example, the lives of the Patriarchs, and becomes the reader, describing the development of one’s own consciousness. This program considers various fundamental issues: Why read the Bible psychologically in first place? What becomes of biblical figures and events when they are “psychologized?” What becomes of God? These questions are explored, not merely in the abstract but also by a detailed analysis in Jungian terms of a few selected biblical stories, including the lives of Job and of Jesus.
Suggested readings:
- The Book of Job
- The Gospel of Matthew
- “Answer to Job” in Psychology and Religion: West and East, CW vol. 11, C.G. Jung
- Jung and the Interpretation of the Bible, David L. Miller, ed.
© 1998 Robert Segal.
Ⓟ 1998 CG Jung Institute of Chicago.