Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to adumbrate the contours of a depth psychological hermeneutics of the Biblical text that would rediscover the value of classical allegorical exegesis and reimagine the role of the Christian Scriptures as a resource for inner transformation and spiritual development. Depth psychology seeks to explore the archetypal motifs that underlie cognitive and behavioral processes, hoping that a conscious engagement of these motives will promote the healing of inner wounds and a gradual move to integration. Archetypal motifs are crucial as they provide an unchanging bedrock for the mythical and spiritual symbols and themes that are spontaneously generated by the psyche and then further elaborated in the context of a religious community. The language of the Christian Scriptures may then be read as expressing the reality of human potential using symbolic language, tropes, and narratives.
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Notes
- 1.
See Eugen Drewermann, Der tödliche Fortschritt: von der Zerstörung der Erde und des Menschen im Erbe des Christentums (Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet Verlag, 1983); …Und es geschah so: Die modern Biologie und die Frage nach Gott (Ostfildern: Patmos Verlag, 1999); Atem des Lebens: Die Moderne Neurologie und die Frage nach Gott. Band I: Das Gehirn (Ostfildern: Patmos Verlag, 2006); Landschaften der Seele oder: Wie man die Angst überwindet- Grimms Märchen tiefenpsychologisch gedeutet (Ostfildern: Patmos Verlag, 2015).
- 2.
For biographical information about Drewermann, see Matthias Beier, Drewermann : Die Biographie (Ostfildern: Patmos Verlag, 2017).
- 3.
Drewermann’s Dein Name is wie der Geschmack des Lebens: Tiefen-psychologische Deutung der Kindheitsgeschichte nach dem Lukasevangelium (Herder: Freiburg im Breisgau, 1986), was published in English with the rather misleading title Discovering the God Child within: A Spiritual Psychology of the Infancy of Jesus, trans. Peter Heinegg (New York: Crossroad, 1994). This essay relies on Heinegg’s translation.
- 4.
Drewermann quotes E. Stauffer, Jerusalem und Rom in Zeitalter Jesu Christi (Bern: Dalp, 1957), 80–102.
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Cattoi, T. (2018). Rescuing Alexandria: Depth Psychology and the Return of Tropological Exegesis. In: Cattoi, T., Odorisio, D. (eds) Depth Psychology and Mysticism. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Mysticism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-79096-1_2
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