A psychological and theological hermeneutic: Integration of psyche, soul, and creative imagination

Many attempts have been made to integrate psychological findings with theological formulations. This dissertation proposes a hermeneutic discourse between depth psychology and theology in which a network of interrelated meanings becomes accessible. The treatise inquires into the interdisciplinary relationship in order to demonstrate that a theological method is feasible with a grounding in psychology, the science of the psyche. It explores the landscape from which both proceed: the psyche as the ground of our shared human existence. It also examines the language of psyche: symbol and creative imagination. The theological and psychological image of transcendence is the hermeneutic premise of both disciplines of inquiry.;The methodology of this dissertation is a hermeneutic approach based upon an interdisciplinary relationship within a network of intersubjective meanings. This is not an eclectic process whereby pieces of each tradition of study are merged into one, but rather a cross-fertilization in which each tradition of inquiry evokes the imaginal life of the other. It addresses human experiences, especially transcendence, that are meaningful and integrated through creative imagination. This methodology is achieved through the hermeneutic circle, a dialectic procedure consisting of relationships between the whole and its parts, between the knower and that which is known.;The hermeneutic method cultivates a symbolic vision in a network of relationships between the analytical psychology of Carl Jung, the transcendental method of the theology of Karl Rahner and Bernard Lonergan, and the archetypal imagination of Henry Corbin. Within the hermeneutic communication between these disciplines, the psyche is the place of human existence and religious experience. Psyche is image, and speaks through a hermeneutic of language in poetic discourse and creative imagination. It is preeminently a hermeneutics of symbols discovered in a collaborative relationship. A psyche-centered vision overcomes the dualism between mind and world, belief and experience, and discloses the archetype of meaning between depth psychology and theological investigation.