Jung and Kierkegaard
identifies authenticity, suffering and self-deception as key overlapping themes that connect Carl Jung’s work intimately with that of Søren Kierkegaard. There is, in the thinking of Jung and Kierkegaard, the fundamental belief in the healing potential of a religious outlook, for both these pioneering psychologists of the human condition identify and express psychological healing in terms of the religious. The significance of such similarities of thinking between Kierkegaard and Jung are fully explored within this text in order to bridge the gap between Kierkegaard’s brand of existential Christian psychology and Jung’s own unique philosophy.
Given the similarity of their work and of their personal biographies, in particular, the relationship that each had with his father, we might expect Jung to have found in Kierkegaard a kindred spirit. Yet this was not the case, as Jung viewed Kierkegaard with great scorn. That there exists such a strong comparison and extensive overlap in the life and thought of these towering figures of psychology and philosophy leads us to question why it is that Jung so strongly rejected Kierkegaard. Cook argues that such hostility is particularly fascinating given the striking similarity Jung’s own analytical psychology bears to the Christian psychology upheld by Kierkegaard.
This book fills a very real gap in Jungian scholarship, by providing the first attempt to undertake a direct comparison between Jung and Kierkegaard’s models of development. This makes the book essential reading for academics and postgraduate students with an interest in Jungian and Kierkegaard scholarship, as well as psychology, philosophy and religion more generally.