THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION AND THE RELIGION OF PSYCHOLOGY: APPLICATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THE ARCHETYPAL PSYCHOLOGY OF JAMES HILLMAN

The discipline of Psychology of Religion demands renewal and revitalization. Its theories and methods of research have reached a developmental impasse. They fail to reflect the rich experiential dimensions of religious realities. Although the psychological study of religion was fertilized a century ago by the depth psychological model of William James, its paradigmatic foundation subsequently shifted to one of social-scientific empiricism. One promising path for renewal lies in returning to the therapeutic orientation initiated by Freud and Jung and extended and amplified by James Hillman and archetypal psychologists. The purpose of the dissertation is to describe this approach and to assess its import and potential usefulness. This direction suggests that psychology and religion are inextricably connected to one another. They have an interpenetrating relationship. It is not that "psychology" is a method for understanding data which we describe as "religious." Psychology itself is religious--inasmuch as it is grounded upon archetypal presuppositions and root metaphors. Recognizing and delineating those imaginal principles is the task of archetypal psychology. Incorporating such insights into an archetypal hermeneutic is a challenge for both Religious Studies and Christian theology. Religious Studies, including the Psychology of Religion, can fruitfully employ the archetypal method in its functionalist approach to the subject, in its critique of its own theoretical biases, and in its comparative, historical, and phenomenological understandings of religious symbolism. Christian theology is compelled to re-examine its notions of idolatry and monotheism in order to respond to the polytheistic implications of archetypal theory.