Jung and Kierkegaard identifies authenticity, suffering and self-deception as the three key themes that connect the work of Carl Jung and Søren Kierkegaard. There is, in the thinking of these pioneering psychologists of the human condition, a fundamental belief in the healing potential of a religious outlook. This engaging and erudite text explores the significance of the similarities of thinking between Kierkegaard and Jung, bridging the gap between the former’s particular brand of existential Christian psychology and the latter’s own unique philosophy. Given the similarity of their work and experiences that were common to both of their personal biographies, particularly the relationship that each had with his father, one might expect Jung to have found in Kierkegaard a kindred spirit. Yet this was not the case, and Jung viewed Kierkegaard with great scorn. That there exists such a strong comparison and extensive overlap in the life and thought of these towering figures of psychology and philosophy leads us to question why it is that Jung so strongly rejected Kierkegaard. Such hostility is particularly fascinating given the striking similarity that Jung’s own analytical psychology bears to the Christian psychology upheld by Kierkegaard. Cook’s thought-provoking book fills a very real gap in Jungian scholarship and is the first attempt to undertake a direct comparison between Jung and Kierkegaard’s models of development. It is therefore essential reading for academics and postgraduate students with an interest in Jungian and Kierkegaard scholarship, as well as psychology, philosophy and religion more generally.

Evans makes a strong case that Kierkegaard has something crucial to say to the Christian church as a philosopher and something equally crucial to say to the philosophical world as a Christian believer.--Robert L. Perkins, Stetson University and Editor, International Kierkegaard Commentary "Prespectives in Religious Studies"

'The love of repetition is in truth the only happy love' So says Constantine Constantius on the first page of Kierkegaard's Repetition. Life itself, according to Kierkegaard's pseudonymous narrator, is a repetition, and in the course of this witty, playful work Constantius explores the nature of love and happiness, the passing of time and the importance of moving forward (and backward). The ironically entitled Philosophical Crumbs pursues the investigation of faith and love and their tense relationship with reason. Written only a year apart, these two works complement each other and give the reader a unique insight into the breadth and substance of Kierkegaard's thought. The first reads like a novel and the second like a Platonic dialogue, but both engage, in different ways, the same challenging issues. These are the first translations to convey the literary quality and philosophical precision of the originals. They were not intended, however, for philosophers, but for anyone who feels drawn to the question of the ultimate truth of human existence and the source of human happiness. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

In Religious but Not Religious, Jungian analyst Jason E. Smith explores the idea, expressed by C.G. Jung, that the religious sense is a natural and vital function of the human psyche. We suffer from its lack. The symbolic forms of religion mediate unconscious and ineffable experiences to the field of consciousness that infuse our lives with meaning and purpose. That is why we cannot be indifferent toward the decline of traditional religious observance so widely discussed today. The great religions house the accumulated spiritual wisdom of humankind, and their loss would be catastrophic to the human soul. As human beings, we hunger for spiritual experience. To be “spiritual but not religious” is one possible response, but it often doesn’t go far enough. All too easily it can become a kind of do-it-yourself spirituality, which lacks the capacity to effect the kind of growth and transformation that is the true goal of all the religious traditions. Smith argues that we need to be “religious but not religious.” We need an approach to religion that recognizes the essential importance of the individual spiritual adventure while also affirming the value of collective religious tradition. He articulates an understanding of religion as a participation in the symbolic life as opposed to a mere content of belief. By recovering our personal sensitivity for symbolic experience together with a symbolic understanding of religion, we facilitate a profound encounter with life and with the human condition through which one may be tested, tried, and transformed.

Kierkegaard has long been known as a philosopher and theologian, but his contributions to psychology, anthropology and sociology have also made an important impact on these fields. In many of the works of his complex authorship, Kierkegaard presents his intriguing and unique vision of the nature and mental life of human beings individually and collectively. The articles featured in the present volume explore the reception of Kierkegaard's thought in the social sciences. Of these fields Kierkegaard is perhaps best known in psychology, where The Concept of Anxiety and The Sickness unto Death have been the two most influential texts. With regard to the field of sociology, social criticism, or social theory, Kierkegaard's Literary Review of Two Ages has also been regarded as offering valuable insights about some important dynamics of modern society..

Man is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self, or it is that in the relation [which accounts for it] that the relation relates itself to its own self; the self is not the relation but [consists in the fact] that the relation relates itself to its own self. Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity; in short, it is a synthesis.

Psychotherapy is profoundly indebted to Carl Jung, who among others, discovered the mappings of soul psychology. Carl Jung and Soul Psychology is a fascinating exploration of the identity and unifying work of soul psychology. The editors have met a monumental challenge in enlisting the scope of wisdom represented in this unique book.

In this first extensive Jungian treatment of Milton's major poems, James P. Driscoll uses archetypal psychology to explore Milton's great themes of God, man, woman, and evil and offers readers deepened understanding of Jung's profound thoughts on Godhead. The Father, the Son, Satan, Messiah, Samson, Adam, and Eve gain new dimensions of meaning as their stories become epiphanies of the archetypes of Godhead. God and Satan of Paradise Lost are seen as the ego and the shadow of a single unfolding personality whose anima is the Holy Spirit and Milton's muse. Samson carries the Yahweh archetype examined by Jung in Answer to Job, and Messiah and Satan in Paradise Regained embody the hostile brothers archetype. Anima, animus and the individuation drive underlie the psychodynamics of Adam and Eve's fall. Driscoll draws on his critical acumen and scholarly knowledge of Renaissance literature to shed new light on Jung's psychology of religion. The Unfolding God of Jung and Milton illumines Jung's heterodox notion of Godhead as a quarternity rather than a trinity, his revolutionary concept of a divine individuation process, his radical solution to the problem of evil, and his wrestling with the feminine in Godhead. The book's glossary of Jungian terms, written for literary critics and theologians rather than clinicians, is exceptionally detailed and insightful. Beyond enriching our understanding of Jung and Milton, Driscoll's discussion contributes to theodicy, to process theology, and to the study of myths and archetypes in literature.