Archetype of the Apocalypse: A Jungian Study of the Book of Revelation

As a tool for textual criticism, Jungian analysis often reveals as much or more about Jungian analysis than about the text. Edinger's study of John's Apocalypse is no exception. Readers will learn a great deal about the Jungian concept of archetypes and their impact on individuation; they will learn less about the biblical book. Edinger was a founder of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York. This book grew out of a series of 10 lectures he delivered at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, beginning in 1995. Though edited and revised for publication, they retain some of the fragmentary and episodic character of popular lectures. The book is divided into chapters that follow the sequence of John's narrative. Edinger brings the narrative into dialogue with dream images gleaned from his own experience as an analyst and from reports of other psychiatrists. Most interesting are Edinger's extensive commentary on Jung's Answer to Job and his brief discussion of two contemporary cases of ""possession"" by the ""apocalypse archetype""--David Koresh and the leaders of Heaven's Gate. These illustrate the explosive power of what Edinger calls ""the coming of the Self."" For the alienated ego, the eruption of the Self from the unconscious is not only explosive but destructive. The alternative Edinger proposes, quoting Jung, is the ""broadening out of man to the whole man,"" a far cry from the book of Revelation but an indication of the social dimension of Jungian individuation. (May)