ABSTRACT
This chapter is an in-depth examination of C.G. Jung’s psychology of religion. The chapter begins by first looking at Jung’s earliest known statements about religion in the Zofingia lectures, paying particular attention to his refutation of Albrecht Ritschl’s views on mysticism. I then move away from Jung in order to examine briefly the work of Oscar Pfister, a contemporary, psychoanalytically minded pastor, whose views on psychotherapy will serve as a comparison to Jung’s. Finally, I look at Jung’s psychology of religion, and show how he attempted to fuse the science of religion project of people like Tiele and Müller with the religious psychology of James and Flournoy. The chapter shows that through Jung’s reformulation of psychotherapy as a quest for life’s meaning, the psychology of religion was transformed from an academic discipline into a practice aimed at facilitating religious experiences.
