Book Description
Aion, originally published in German in 1951, is one of the major works of Jung's later years. The central theme of the volume is the symbolic representation of the psychic totality through the concept of the Self, whose traditional historical equivalent is the figure of Christ. Jung demonstrates his thesis by an investigation of the Allegoria Christi, especially the fish symbol, but also of Gnostic and alchemical symbolism, which he treats as phenomena of cultural assimilation. The first four chapters, on the ego, the shadow, and the anima and animus, provide a valuable summation of these key concepts in Jung's system of psychology.
Customer Reviews:
A great book on many levels for many audiences.......2006-09-13
This is a must own book for any student of Carl Jung. It covers the basic concepts of his psychological topology in his own words in a brief space and goes into a much deeper dive on the Self. This exploration of Self goes deeply into Christian symbolism and the structure and dynamics of the Self.
Like much of Carl Jung's writing, some of this is very tough going for people new to Jung. It is not a bedside book and the average reader will need to look a lot of things up. However, it is indispensable in terms of the concepts.
There are many good books that can provide commentary on this book and you can find them easily. I would highly recommend that you pick up one of these books about Aion in addition to the text itself. This is a book that has many layers and one which you must be patient with.
If you are merely looking for an introduction to Jung, then I would go with Jung's Map of the Soul by Murray Stein. This is the BEST introduction I know of and quotes Aion a lot. Aspects of the Faminine is also very good for those who want to know more about the anima/animus and a more readable version of Jung's thoughts on marriage, the feminine, etc.
The Viking Portable Jung is also good to get a cross section of Jung's most important thought. However, you will eventually want to read Aion for its depth and extensive elaboration on the nature of the Self.
Follow up to Archetypes of the Collective Unc........2006-06-06
As usual, this is another discerning, but difficult to read Jung book. It focuses on Christian imagery as related to Jung's model of consciousness. This model includes 3 layers vs. Freud's 2-layered approach--by adding a meta-layer which Jung termed the Collective Unconscious. Part 1 of volume 9 of the collected works addressed this layer & its denizens, the archetypes. It is very useful to read that volume prior to this one. This one provides additional information on good vs. evil. The socialization process of each civilization or nation attempts to reify acceptable behavior into children. The down side of this is that parts of the child's psyche is split off--or repressed. The conglomeration of these split off parts form the individual's shadow complex. The initial step in individuation is to reclaim & integrate these parts back into consciousness. Such repressed parts, if not brought back to consciousness, slowly gain energy & can affect people negatively--"not being myself" or Freudian slips. Jung found that alchemy depicted much of his psychological discoveries--giving him a relieving confirmation of his views. In another work, he also mentions that the great Hasidic leader, the Great Maggid of Mezerich, described the bulk of Jungian psychology centuries before. Jung looks for image parallels throughout history & all over the planet (similar to Joseph Campbell's quest). The 2nd phase of individuation is recalling anima or animus projections from other people--a topic far too complex for this review--see Schwartz-Salant & Stein's "Gender & Soul in Psychotherapy."
However, Jung had issues with his Christian upbringing (see his autobiography "Memories, Dreams, Reflections), but he finds extensive parallels within Christianity, especially Catholicism herein. His analysis will probably have an upside & a downside for both Christians & non-Christians alike--though perhaps differently. One can find similar parallels in other religions as well. For a good overall exposition of Jungian principles by a Christian theologian, see Hans Schaer's "Religion & the Cure of Souls in Jung's Psychology" & read CW11, Jung's "Psychology of Religion..." I liked these better than "Aion" (& I'm more interested in Buddhism). Jung's split with long-time friend Father Victor White was over Jung's view of evil as an entity vs. White's Catholic view of the "privatio boni"--evil as the absence of good (per Jung's "Letters"). I suggest reading M. Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" for more on this issue.
As in all but one of his books (i.e. "Answer to Job"), Jung takes a Thinking, scientific stance, saying (~Vajrayana Buddhism), "Emotion incidentally is not an activity of the individual, but something that happens to him." This is not my favorite Jung book, but it's worth reading.
Christian Symbolism and Equilibrium of the Self.......2004-03-07
I found a lot of this book formidably dense. Recently I read an introductory book on Jung by psychoanalyst Anthony Storr that sheds some light, even though Storr never specifically mentions AION. Storr observes a tendency in Jung's thinking to describe the psyche as a self-regulating mechanism, like the human endocrine system. For example, extraverted activity in the unconscious compensates for introverted activity in the conscious (or vice versa). Also, a neurosis may be the unconscious's way of compensating for overly one-sided thinking in the conscious. Similarly, a schizophrenic delusion may be the psyche's (unsuccessful) attempt to restore a lost mental balance.
Examples of this balance/compensation principle in AION:
(1) The Christ symbol. It's a symbol of the Self (like most of the symbols and archetypes discussed in the book), but it lacks a Shadow or inferior component; consequently, the early Christians were compelled to generate the Anti-Christ symbol. However, since the Christ and Anti-Christ are separate entities in traditional Christian thinking, the Western worldview has become highly dualistic and Manichaean, good vs. evil.
(2) The God archetype. As Western thinking has become increasingly secular over the centuries, the God-image has become repressed into the unconscious, where it emerges in savage political forms such as fascism, a worship of the State. (Jung wrote this a few years after World War II.)
(3) Leviathan and Behemoth. "God's monstrous antagonist produces a double because the God-image is incomplete..." (pg. 120).
(4) Sons of God in Catharist legend: Satanael the elder son, Christ the younger son. Similar to the Christ/Anti-Christ dichotomy.
(5) The "higher" and "lower" Adam figures in some Gnostic legends. The higher Adam represents higher states of consciousness; the lower Adam, the unconscious.
(6) The two thieves crucified with Christ. One is destined for heaven (higher consciousness), the other for a warmer climate (unconscious).
Of course, there's more to the book than this equilibrium-of-the-Self aspect. But that aspect ties in with the main theme, the process of individuation (or ascending to a higher state of consciousness) in the Western mind.
Jung really assaults the reader here with his encyclopedic knowledge of religion and alchemy. A lot of his later work deals with esoteric subjects (alchemy, gnosticism, hermeticism, kabbalah). I found a few of the religious subjects, like the medieval "Holy Ghost" movement, to be pretty interesting in themselves, but unfortunately Jung discusses only those elements that relate to his psychological theories.
One of his greatest works.......2003-05-28
_Aion_ is part 2 of volume nine of Jung's collected works. Although _Aion_ is unquestionably a stand-alone work, ideally it should be read after part 1, which is _Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious_.
That said, _Aion_ is one of Jung's greatest works and is one of the first three that anyone who is new to Jung should start with. The first part deals with Christianity, and the significance of the death of Christ. This is treated as a legitimate, factual historical event, yet it is also explained as a collective pschic phenomenon in the general sense. The middle part of the book deals with ancient alchemy, and the symbolic parallels between alchemy and modern conceptions of psychology. This might sound dull, but trust me - you will be surprised to see the uncanny symbolic parallels between ancient magical practices and the most modern, up to date theories of the psyche. This is discussed at length in the section on the "Two Fishes", which is one of Jung's greatest essays (although quite difficult). The final section deals with quaternity symbolism, and features a wide array of strange diagrams. About 200 pages in, these diagrams will become more frequent, and the reader might get frustrated trying to see the significance of these rudimentary drawings. Personally, my advice is to stop reading after 200 pages. All of the useful essays are contained within these first 200 pages, while the final 50 or so pages contains esoteric essays which can be considered, at best, curiosity pieces for the insatiable, die-hard Jungian. The editiors wisely confined this esoterica to final few pages of the book. This is not to take anything away from the book as a whole. Overall, _Aion_ is extremely profound and insightful, and is a must read for Jungians and non-Jungians alike.
Jung At Heart, CW9, Part 2.......2001-02-12
"In psychology one possesses nothing unless one has experienced it in reality." (Jung p. 33) In this volume Jung provides us with his experiences with the human psyche and conclusions about these experiences.
Jung suggests that humans have a psychological makeup that generally exceeds their ability to comprehend it. In this volume he defines and describes these "hidden" aspects of the human psyche, such as: the Ego, the Self, the Shadow, the Anima and others. Jung makes suggestions as to how modern Western humans can discover these unconscious aspects of themselves and how they can be integrated into human consciousness.
This volume hints at a process Jung called individuation, in which the personally unconscious aspects of a human being are united with their normal consciousness, and then this expanded consciousness becomes subservient to a new meta-consciousness, which he called The Self, and which transcends human comprehension, except as an experience. (It is beyond names and forms.) Jung spends a good deal of time describing The Self using Western religious metaphors to make his examples.
Most of Jung's theories have slipped into our collective Western unconsciousness, so that they are now part of our unconscious assumptions, (e.g. projection, shadow, denial, the unconsciousness of our faults) and if you would like to become conscious of these assumptions, a reading of this book might facilitate that experience.
If you are familiar with Jung's work, this will increase your understanding of his concept of the human psyche, its parts and the goal of unification of those parts.
Book Description
Goethe's most complex and profound work, Faust was the effort of the great poet's entire lifetime. Written over 60 years, it can be read as a document of Goethe's moral and artistic development. Faust is made available to the English reader in a completely new translation that communicates both its poetic variety and its many levels of tone. The language is present-day English, and Goethe's formal and rhythmic variety is reproduced in all its richness.
Customer Reviews:
Part II sucks the life out of Part I--read Marlowe.......2006-06-16
If you have read (and not just seen) Goldman's "The Princess Bride," you will understand my reaction to this classic. The short of it is that Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" is a more-to-the-point rendering of the classic tale. Goethe starts strong, but Part II loses focus, and dulls the story.
The play is called "Faust," therefore our focus should be on Faust, as the focus of "The Hobbit" is on the Hobbit Bilbo. Goethe does this to perfection in the first part of the story. Mephisto's seduction of Faust is palpable--you can taste the evil dripping of every page, and you twist in time with Faust as he wavers back and forth under Mephito's barrage.
However, Part II does not follow logically from the events in Part one. Instead of focusing on the decline and fall of Dr. Henry Faust, we get setting after setting after setting. Goethe's main gimmick is the Pleasure Garden, which takes place in Oberon's Enchanted Forest. Furthermore, there are ample helpings of Greco-Roman mythology that sent me packing to my "Bulfinch's Mythology." This is all nice, but if we wanted Homer or the Bard, we would go to the source. As Bruce R. McConkie said, "Don't drink below the horses."
This brings me to William Goldman. Part of the humor in "The Princess Bride" is that it is "the good parts version." Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" should be considered "the good parts version" of Goethe's retelling. A lot of Goethe's flourishes and irrelevant asides could be excised without any violence to the plot and the story telling. Of course Goethe was building on Marlow's work, but in several places, he went a too far.
I do not hate Goethe's version. Psychologically, and romantically it is a better work. The seduction scenes are longer and more realistic, unlike Marlowe, whose seduction is slightly better than Palpatine's beguiling of Anakin. The interaction between Faust and Helen is meatier, and that much more entertaining.
However, the ending was the most disappointing ending conceivable: deus ex machina by virtue of grace. So eat, drink and be merry (and sell you soul to boot), for mercy CAN rob justice, and we CAN be saved in our sins, not from our sins.
more than butchered. Pureed.......2005-10-10
This has got to be the most dumbed-down version of Faust I have ever come across. Where as any good english translation reads like poetry that tells a story this version reads like two guys in a coffee shop having a conversation. Honestly all the beauty of words that Goethe spent so much effort putting to perfection is dumbed down to such a layman level that a lot of the effect of his genius is lost in this version. I was terribly dissappointed with this version when I got it. Don't buy this translation unless you have no ability whatsoever to understand poetic language.
!!!FLAME-ORBS!!!.......2005-05-26
what basalt! what flare! faust is and always be one of those megalo-gigantic characters that continue to inspire drama and thought for centuries. he may even be literatures's most allur-ing, most sympathetic and most fascinating character. for here is a man who succumbs to the temptation that all of us wrestle with time to time yet on how grand a scale does he accomplish it! all of us from time to time consider selling our souls to the devil, all of us have considered attempting to swindle the fool-ish of capital, or thought of joining a corrupt financial firm so as to at last satiate our lust for wealth and power. it is in our nature for we humans to hunger for the easier, the more com-fortable, the more efficient and often, frustrated with the fruits that God rewards to the pious, we instead slurch into the manacles of the sinister and bind our souls to the fiends where profit is assured! and faust succumbs to these temptations and not simply on a petty insignificant scale he does so in gargantua! he summons the devil himself and agrees to exchange his immortal soul for twenty four years of unlimited puissance!
yet goethe unlike marlowe or the anonymous german author of 1587 rather than use this as a simple morality play and a vehicle for spreading christian obedience instead employs it for a study of one of the greatest human dilemmas, namely our combat against the lechers of vice and the apparent contradic-tion that the injustice profit while the obedient suffer! vol-canica! blare! how my heart riots as i read this epic poem! how the human quandary shines into me in limpid array! and then in part two after a host of death and bedlam faust embarks on his quest for redemption and his attempt to improve mankind. it is a star-glorious adventure, bold, quaking and sublime.
author of Lorelei Pursued, Wrestles with God
It's disappointing..........2004-07-20
... how the work has been translated. Goethe spent more or less his whole life on writing and improving this drama. In the original text nearly every line rhymes with another. In fact, there are only a few exceptions.
It's sad that all that is gone with the translation. In my opinion a lot of the magic surrounding the text disappeared, too.
If possible, you should definately read it in german.(only if you're really good) It's hard enough to fully understand it even if german is your native language.
Quotation: (beginning)
Faust: Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
Juristerei und Medizin,
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor!
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor;
Heiße Magister, heiße Doktor gar
Und ziehe schon an die zehen Jahr
Herauf, herab und quer und krumm
Meine Schüler an der Nase herum-
Und sehe, daß wir nichts wissen können!
Das will mir schier das Herz verbrennen.
....
Marthens Garten
MARGARETE: Versprich mir, Heinrich!
FAUST: Was ich kann!
MARGARETE: Nun sag, wie hast du's mit der Religion?
Du bist ein herzlich guter Mann,
Allein ich glaub, du hältst nicht viel davon.
FAUST: Laß das, mein Kind! Du fühlst, ich bin dir gut;
Für meine Lieben ließ' ich Leib und Blut,
Will niemand sein Gefühl und seine Kirche rauben.
...
I LOVE these parts!
Goethe the philosopher.......2004-05-21
Goethe and his work cannot be read in translation. It is necessary to learn German to understand the depth of his work. German is made of intranslatable words which have a spiralling meaning.
Goethe in Europe and Britain is still very much a prominent figure of writing. His work is allegorical, heavy and fantastic. There are thick and luscious lines which cannot be forgotten.
Translation or not, Faust must be read.
Book Description
Poetry in its many guises is at the center of Coleridge's multifarious interests, and this long-awaited new edition of his complete poetical works marks the pinnacle of the Bollingen Collected Coleridge. The three parts of Volume 16 confirm and expand the sense of the Coleridge who has emerged over the past half-century, with implications for English Romantic writing as a whole. Setting new standards of comprehensiveness in the presentation of Romantic texts, they will interest historians and editorial theorists, as well as readers and students of poetry. They represent a work of truly monumental importance.
The second part presents the same 706 poems as the first, in the same chronological sequence, but differently records in each case all known textual information in collated form--allowing for alternative construals of the reading texts. An additional 135 items are inserted into the same sequence, comprising poems mistakenly ascribed to Coleridge or of dubious authenticity and poems that remained only in the planning stage or that are referred to but have not been recovered. The index of titles and first lines incorporates the full range of variants.
All told, the Collected Coleridge variorum sequence collates over a third more additional texts--in more detailed and accurate form--than those found in the previous standard edition, by E.H. Coleridge. The presentation method in this second part will interest editorial theorists as well as those interested primarily in Coleridge and/or the making of poetry. The unusually detailed textual information also reveals changes in such areas as linguistic and grammatical usage, patterns of transcription and circulation among anthologists, and contemporary publishers' house styles.
Customer Reviews:
Great writings in one volume.......2007-03-09
St. Teresa of Avila is a great writer of the spiritual life, especially regardingg prayer and striving for mystical union. I liked that the book conatins a few of her writings in one book, especially when you want to cross-reference when you read and study her works.
Spare the time.......2005-08-02
Spirituality development and growth can be difficult in these modern times. St Teresa's life and spiritual journey can easily be taken in small doses and applied daily. Her mystical visions can be understood personaly - a rare treat.
Keeping prayer active through various stages of life.......2005-02-11
Teresa of Avila has three popular books in print that continue to aid the spiritual development, which is impressive, considering she lived during the 1500s. A Christian mystic, the knowledge that she imparted in her writings was esteemed so highly, that she was the first woman to receive the title of "doctor," by the Catholic Church. Religious and political leaders sought her advice. Her ideas revolutionized religious life, particularly with the emphasis on equality of all members of the order, and her teachings on cultivating a spiritual life focused on prayer, transform lives to this day. Other popular works she wrote and that are still in circulation include "The Interior Castle," and "The Way of Perfection," but it is best to start with her autobiography, since these both of other works refer to ideas mentioned in her autobiography.
There are many interpretations of her writings available on the market, but I have always found Kieran Kavanaugh's editions to be the most insightful. He prefaces the books with a background with background information about Teresa's life, the atmosphere in which she lived, and ideas of her contemporaries. The translations he provides are clear and he adds notes to explain religious and cultural practices which might seem alien to the modern reader. The fact that his work is published through the Institute of Carmelite Studies adds an air of authenticity, since it was the order with which Teresa was affiliated and strived so hard to reform, that other editions lack.
This is no ordinary autobiography, as Teresa was no ordinary woman. Despite her extraordinariness, the book is written in a conversational tone, which makes her ideas easy to understand and remember; one feels as if she is talking to the reader personally. She also conveys ideas and struggles that ordinary people confront, such as not being sure if she has a calling for the religious life (in the beginning, unlike most Christian writers, she say that she never wanted to be a nun), wondering what God's plan for her is, and experiencing spiritual dryness - in which the great teacher of prayer admits to lacking the motivation to pray regularly. How she discerns solutions for these questions is inspirational for any reader.
The extraordinary aspect of her life revolves around her commitment to trying to learn better ways to speak to God and seek God in her life, which was the basis for her prayer life. Witnesses attended her church with the hope of seeing her rise off the floor in an ecstasy, and she does devote some of the book to defining differences between different states of ecstasy and rapture. She also lists different ways in which people may hear God speak to them; some relate to apparitions, which may interest the reader who is interested in these phenomena as they are claimed to exit in the modern day.
But more helpful, for the majority of us, she outlines paths of spiritual development, how sometimes the best of use can only muster enough strength to mouth prayers in difficult times, but that we should continue to persevere, because perseverance will bring spiritual development if out intention is pure. She believes that fundamentally, prayer is nothing more than a conversation with God, and through our practice of talking to God, we will learn how to hear him more clearly and speak to him with more respect and ask better questions. She outlines different sages to prayer that exist, with vocal prayer being the most basic, and mental prayer being the most developed. She articulates that people's approach to the path may vary; different passages inspire people differently, and some religious practices offer more help for some than for others, but this is appropriate, and there are many paths to the same mansion. Through all her advice, she encourages a joyful approach to living one's religion, because we should be happy to serve God with love as he loves us.
defies description.......2004-03-26
St. Teresa of Avila, who lived in sixteenth century Spain, was a woman as complex as those turbulent times; yet also, she was simple, as only the greatest saints can be.
Her writings are discursive, immediately engaging, written in a warm and sometimes disjointed style, like conversation. If you have read "about" Teresa but put off reading the works of the saint herself, feeling it might be too formidable a task, have no fear. She speaks of the highest mystical experiences in terms accessible to 21st century readers. There are some cultural references and attitudes to be filtered, but over all, Teresa's tremendous pleasure in her loving relationship with God, shines through. Do not be put off by the distance of centuries; don't feel that Teresa is too holy to be comprehended. Read the story of her life, and read her descriptions of the stages of a mystical spiritual journey leading to a marvelous knowledge of God, and an ineffable sharing with God.
Teresa speaks to all of us, wherever we are in our faith journeys, whenever we live, whatever our state. Her writings are classic outpourings of a soul sometimes desolate, sometimes ecstatic, but always, dedicated to God. Teresa defies category or analysis. You must read her to experience her.
Spiritual testimonies: First woman doctor of the Church.......2000-09-04
Teresa de Ahumada born in Spain on March 28, 1515, died October 4, 1582 at the age of 67.
A woman of warmth, generosity and spiritual awareness. As a young child Teresa was made aware of God's presence and throughout her lifetime made it her mission to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to as many as she encountered.
She journeyed throughout Spain and laid many Foundations to do God's work. St. John of the Cross was one of her spiritual directors as she went forth to build God's kingdom.
Volume One has two books: " The Book of Her Life" and "Her Spiritual Testimonies. Other collected works of Saint Teresa which are found in Volume Two are " The Way of Perfection" and " The Interior Castle and in Volume Three " The Book of Her Foundations" and " Minor Works".
Customer Reviews:
Non-Mystic, Western, Mormon Interpretation of the Ethiopian Prophet - Worthy to Read.......2007-07-27
As a RastafarI I have an interest in an Ethiopian prophet who got virtually expunged from the Bible by the European churches, but who still features canonically in the Ethiopian Bible. Sin-ce then, it has become known via the discoveries of various sources that the New Testament alone is actually still referencing/quoting the lost Book of Enoch 128 times. I knew this book would write from a Mormon perspective. In fact, in few instances, the author makes disadvantageous comments towards the Ethiopian version compared to some remaining Western ones. Underall, he writes very Western-centered, e.g. elaborating exclusively on the history of ancient and modern Western views and rediscoveries of Enoch. Including the 1830 revelation about Enoch to the young Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), who the author reasons could not have known from any source about Enoch, the way he got confirmed later, e.g. by the Dead Sea Scroll find of 1945. The Mormon revelation text gets compared to ancient non-Christian and Christian texts about Enoch, e.g. the Ethiopian, Slavonic, Greek and Hebrew-Aramaic ones.
Hugh Nibley differentiates the personified from the conceptual Enoch. The former is the prophet who is - according to the holy texts - a 6th generation descendent of Adam, father of Methusaleh and great grandfather of Noah, whose story he prophesied. Enoch, "the first human not to die", but to ascend to God. The conceptual version is both, identified with many other holy figures like Adam, Seth, Melchisedek, Noah, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and so on, as well as a symbol, which had been known in many ancient countries; also to get projected onto anyone who was like him. The book provides several meaningful translation possibilities of the name Enoch.
As someone who didn't know a thing about Enoch, the book is well worth to read. Despite its general flaws and some others specifically to my perspective. It is very footnote ridden, with only part of them meant to be read. Published originally in 1986 it is comprised of four texts of varying length which had been written from 1974-77 for different purposes. As such, they are both, overlapping and somewhat incoherent, i.e. some things are missing, which would have been included, if written for a single purpose. Occasionally I thought that I had already read some parts and must have misplaced my bookmark accordingly, this involuntarily repetitive it gets from "chapter to chapter". Also, the comparisons between the various sources lead to repetitions, as the same text pieces are compared to various sources in different contexts. However, I have read much worse repetitions elsewhere.
Nibley avers, Enoch would be unpopular among gnostics. Personally, I wouldn't know about that, most certainly Hyam Maccoby thought differently in THE MYTH-MAKER. However, as a mystic myself, I find Nibley's assertion surprising. True is that he isn't seeing Enoch in a mystic way, even though some probably involuntary descriptions of mystic elements are found in his book - interpreted non-mystically. For example, he is reporting that according to Enoch, humans are creloved as a lesser unit within the greater. Being God (as an "individual") equals an Enoch. Zion (which would be Ithiopia in Iyaric) is a place, where Iveryone of one heart and one mind is living in vast distances from each other, but through God/Jah share common awareness of each other. Whereas the others (i.e. those living in Babylon) are plagued with continual wars and bloodshed. Enoch would be against separations, whereas those who are divided are scattered by the Lord. Yet, Nibley writes all of this, but doesn't get it. For example writing that the flood would have been absolutely necessary, for all manner of perversions among humans. Referring (only) to men dressing like women and vice versa. To begin with, I seriously doubt that the tenth generation of humans were wearing clothes at all yet. But then again, I also seriously doubt that the Adam concept is really referring to the first human. But that is the parameter of the author, who takes everything literally, i.e. not mystically. If I may comment in addition, I don't think Jah would have been interested to send the flood to enforce a dress code. (Especially, as in some pre-colonial African lands, gender-based clothing was the custom within a group - but occasionally reversed in neighbouring communities.) In fact, diametrically opposed, blinding separations such as of "genders" is exactly one of the things, the flood (for real or metaphorically) was sent for. (Compare to the Gospel According to Thomas, in which those find the kingdom of God, who make of two one, specifically of women and men.) In a similar vein, Nibley doesn't see the mystic purpose of the animals getting flooded along with the humans. It's not really, because they have sinned. (After all, the flood was sent for the humans who didn't listen to Enoch and Noah. How could animals?) But to symbolize the connection, i.e. non-separation between animals and humans, if that makes any sense to the non-mystics at this point of a condensed review.
The bottom line is: This book provides good basic information on the Enoch concept, embedded in Western, "orthodox" perspectives. For an Africancentered perspective read Enoch the Ethiopian: The Lost Prophet of the Bible : Greater Than Abraham, Holier Than Moses. However, I have to report sadly, this doesn't automatically make for a better book. As the cohesive text(s) of Enoch are not included in either version, read The Lost Book of Enoch: Comprehensive Transliteration of the Forgotten Book of the Bible.
Enoch the Prophet.......2007-05-07
This author has an great deal of knowledge. His book is wonderful. I'm not quite sure why people are quoting Lewis in fiction, when they have a giant in knowledge to quote from with Nibley.
Interesting insight into a debate among Mormons.......2002-04-25
Not being a member of the the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) I find myself a little at sea with this material, but for an outsider the book does present some interest in that Nibley is a respected Mormon scholar who advocates that the Book of Mormon (Hellaman 13:33) quotes Book of Enoch. As such Nibley is one of the main points of reference for the many members of LDS who respect the Book of Enoch. However in reading outside this book one finds that other Mormon scholars (notably Kent Jackson of BYU) reject both the Book of Enoch and Nibley's arguments.
As to the book itself, it is probably of very limited utility to anyone with an interest in pseudepigrapha - anyone wanting to know about Enoch outside the LDS context would go to an academic writer (Nickelsburg, Vanderkam) or editor (Charlesworth) - but it does shed light on why some Mormons consider Book of Enoch semi-inspired. Personally I find Nibley's evidence for traces of Enoch in the book of Mormon extremely weak - nothing more than a very vague similarity. The first translation in English of 1Enoch, by Richard Laurence, was published in 1821 but was not widely available in America - and appears not to have been known to early Mormons.
The loss and rediscovery of Enoch and comparisons to LDS.......1999-07-07
This erudite study includes essays discussing various Enoch texts, their suppression and loss, and more recent recovery, and even more recent appreciation in New Testament and Judaic studies. He includes essays on The Book of Enoch as a Theodicy (justification of the ways of God to man), a wide-ranging comparison of the themes of the Enoch literature with some of the oldest Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian myths. Finally, he extensively compares the contents of the recently recovered Enoch texts from Ethiopia, Qumran, Slavonic, etc. with the Enoch material produced by Joseph Smith in 1830. Altogether mind-expanding and provocative.
Product Description
2 vol set in slipcase. Contains a number of her article: Self Analysis; Neurosis and Human Growth; Neurotic Personality of our Time; New Ways in Psychoanalysis; Our Iner Conflicts.
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- The Battle of the Golden Spurs
- Sugarbush Spring
- The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History
- Scientific Computing
- The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11
- Empire's Nature: Mark Catesby's New World Vision
- Rough Mix
- The Canadian Military Experience 1867-1995: A Bibliography
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 1)
Mysterium Coniunctionis (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.14)
Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.12)
Symbols of Transformation (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.5)
Alchemical Studies (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.13)
