The Unfolding God of Jung and MiltonIn 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 quaternity 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. |
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Adam and Eve Adam's alienation androgynous anima animus Answer to Job archetype archetypes of Godhead Augustine becomes believe Book of Job character Christ Christian coincidentia oppositorum collective shadow conjunctio consciousness created creative critics crucifixion Dalila decisive identity deity devouring uroboros divine doctrine dualism ego's envy epiphanies ethic of rebellion Eve's faith Father feminine function Gnostic God's guilt hero Holy Spirit hostile brothers human individuated wholeness inflation interdependence intuition Jung Jung's Jungian Jungian psychology King Lear man's manifest masculine mature freedom meaning Messiah metadramatic Milton the apologist Milton the artist modern moral mother myth nature obedience old ethic opposites orthodox Paraclete Paradise Lost Paradise Regained patriarchal philosophical privatio boni projection psyche psychic psychological Quaternity repressed Samson Agonistes Satan scapegoat Sophia stasis suffering summum bonum symbol temptation Testament theodicy theology thou tion tragedy tragic transformation Trinity unconscious Univ uroboric uroboric evil vision Wisdom Yahweh