Jungian Theology – Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
I have already remarked that — in my view — the bridges between the Jungian theology of Drewermann and Creation Spirituality have not been studied enough, and that I feel called to engage in such a study.
In a 1991 interview, Drewermann says a few relevant things that I would like to report here, in order to see the points of contact with Creation Spirituality that deserve attention and development. Answering a question about how religion tends to be anxiety-inducing, Drewermann says:
I maintain that in the Christian West there is a structural chasm between thinking and feeling, as it can be seen from the fact that historically the interpretation of Revelation [he means the contents of the Christian faith, not the book of Revelation] has happened substantially by means of logical categories. Myth has been fought against, and consequently also those strata of the human psyche where myths are formed. Revelation has been understood as a communication from God in the form of commandments and rationally understandable contents. In such a way, dreams and their echoes in the inner space of the soul have been feared. The instinctual world became something morally unsound and has been fought against. All that was not understood within the soul has been demonized…. These are spiritual obstacles that Christianity brought into the West. We cannot declare ourselves innocent about this. Add to the mix sexual morality! But this latter issue, the mistakes made about it, should be clear to all by now.
The next question that the interviewer asks revolves around Drewermann’s motto “It should not be permissible to capitulate before the power of evil.” Does Drewermann consider himself a kind of priest/healer?
The question is what do we mean by evil. More than 50 years ago, Paul Tillich said that “the notion of original sin probably should not be kept because it produces equivocations and wrong associations.” [Yes, Tillich was a precursor of Matthew Fox, but limited to this one sentence]. This, however, is true for the notion of sin in general, a notion through which Christian theology has circumscribed the concept of evil. The meaning of “sin” in turn means the transgression of certain specific commandments which God promulgated, and we can respect as we are equipped with free will. If this is it, then Christianity is ill-equipped to confront its own ethical premises. Today we should learn from sociology and psychology that with the term “sin” we describe alienation states essentially. We could learn from existential philosophy what it means to live an unauthentic life. We could learn from depth psychology what it means to internalize, from an early age, several tyrannical figures which act in our adult life on the Ego terrain as demonic powers. We could learn from sociology how much structural violence is in place.
There is nothing in this program that feels alien to, or even distant from, Creation Spirituality. Nonetheless, it is to be remembered that the cosmic aspect, the enlarging of the soul to the dimensions of the universe — the soul capax universi according to Aquinas’ saying — and the radical relationality with non-human creatures is a gift of Creation Spirituality which is unrivalled.
Drewermann, perhaps, is all-important to me because of his focus on angst and his underlining of the therapeutic teachings against angst in the Bible. I have seen Matthew Fox doing something extremely important in this regard, that is, when people are beset by angst. He asks them to break out from their worries and connect with their body and with the bodies of other creatures, be they trees or animals or stars and so on. First, via positiva!
I concur that any psychology which starts from examining unresolved issues, rather than from the body, is at risk of navel-gazing. At the same time, I have experienced the enormous help of working on my own via negativa in a Jungian setting, and I am not afraid anymore — despite Jung’s clear caveats — of proposing a Jungian theology and spirituality.
Most of Drewermann’s essential works are not translated in English. The main point of reference for studying him is Matthias Beier, A Violent God-Image: An Introduction to the Work of Eugen Drewermann (Continuum: 2004).
Banner Image: Exploring the Jungian concept of the shadow. Image by Lex McKee on Flickr. CC-by-NC-SA 4.0.
Queries for Contemplation
What aspects of Drewermann’s answers seem relevant to explore for you individually?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
Natural Grace: Dialogues on creation, darkness, and the soul in spirituality and science
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times (available for pre-order)
