This volume provides an introduction to psychological interpretations of the Hebrew Bible -- with the Garden of Eden story as a test case. It approaches the text from Freudian, Jungian, and Developmental psychologies, comparing and contrasting the different methods while taking on the hermeneutical issues. Ricoeur's work is used to establish criteria for adequate interpretation. Genesis 3 presents a fruitful text for psychological interpretation given its importance in Western culture. Its themes of sexuality, guilt, consciousness, and alienation are issues of great concern for everyone in our society. Kille's aim is to locate psychological criticism within the field of biblical studies and to propose a hermeneutical framework for describing and evaluating psychological approaches. The second part is devoted to analysis of different evaluations of Genesis 3 from the three chosen psychological perspectives.

The first introduction to the history and method of biblical-psychological interpretation.

Foreword by Walter Wink In recent years theologians and biblical scholars have begun to delve into the insights that come from the application of psychology to biblical texts. While these methods continue to be useful and popular, nowhere have the "foundational" texts in the field been collected. Wayne Rollins and Andrew Kille, who have both published and taught widely in the area of psychological biblical criticism, have assembled an excellent guide for those interested in this fascinating topic. Included in this anthology are articles from across the landscape, spanning over one hundred years and including such authors as Franz Delitzsch, M. Scott Fletcher, Max Weber, Walter Wink, and many other scholars.

How are Christians to understand and undertake the discipline of psychology? This question has been of keen interest because of the importance we place on a correct understanding of human nature.This collection of essays edited by Eric Johnson and Stanton Jones offers four different models for the relationship between Christianity and psychology.

The biblical Book of Ruth is a love story, apparently personal and simple " of love between women and between man and woman " told in poetic imagery and style. Barely hiding within this immediate beauty are the archetypal depths which reveal nothing less than the eternal mystery of a love which brings about redemption and individuation both personal and transcendent, human and divine. Dr. Kluger wrote the original interpretation as part of the requirements of the first graduating class of the Jung Institute in Zürich. He later updated his work, but the thesis remains the same: the return of the feminine principle in the Bible. To this end, he examines the fate and role of the feminine as she travels from ancient times through various goddesses to the person of Ruth, and her destiny as restoring the original totality of masculine and feminine in equal, interacting, balance. In counterpoint to the scholarly style of her father " while in unison with his interpretations " Nomi Kluger-Nash has written a woman's subjective reactions to the story of Ruth, Naomi and Orpah. To this associative style she brings further amplifications from Kabbalah into the meaning of these women who carry aspects, both light and dark, of the Shekhinah, the feminine presence of God.

An assessment of the development and achievements of the field of Psychological Hermeneutics.

Fire and brimstone, bellowing prophets, and a good dose of old-fashioned sermonizing — these are the images the Bible brings to mind. But this assortment of sacred writings, in particular the Old Testament, is more than a collection of colorful allegories or miracles-and-morals mythology. Though written in the first millennium BCE, these holy writings are a nostalgic recounting of a lost 'super-religious' mentality that characterized the Bronze Age. The Psychology of the Bible explores how the Old Testament provides perspective into the tumultuous transition from an earlier mentality to a new paradigm of interiorized psychology and introspective religiosity that came to characterize the first millennium BCE. By examining the Old Testament's historical background and theopolitical context, utilizing linguistic analysis, and applying systems and communication theory, this book interprets biblical passages through a new lens. It analyzes divine voices, visions, and appearances of heavenly messengers — angel and prophets — as neurocultural phenomena and explains why they were so common. This book also answers why definitions of God changed so radically, illuminates the divinatory role of idols and other oracular aids (e.g. the Ark of the Covenant), provides a framework for appreciating why ‘wisdom literature' became so significant, and clarifies the linkages among music, poetry, and inspiration.