Another Pair of Eyes: The Gospels as Seen from the Perspective of the Archetypes

By Dolores Burkhard

I have just read Matthew well written, brilliant interweaving, understandable, wonderful! I think you show deep understanding of my work. You are showing the biblical foundations of it all. This feels like a Tillichian miracle to me.
With deep appreciation for your genius, Robert Moore


The gospels will never be the same after you read this book and find that its theory is self-evident. The author has combined the insights of scripture scholars and those of modern psychology using the works of psychologist Dr. Robert Moore regarding the archetypes which are part of every human psyche. The scriptural insights are unique, creative, visionary even and offer the reader a new but very true perspective on the gospels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481708593

Dolores Burkhard

Dolores Burkhard is from the Southwest. She holds a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies. She spent 35 plus years in various teaching and pastoral ministries in the Catholic Church including: Director of Schools of Ministry, Pastoral Associate, and Director of Catechumenate and Liturgy. She has also served as chairperson of a ministerial alliance of differing Christian denominations.

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© 2013 by Dolores Burkhard. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/06/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0861-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0860-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0859-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013901081

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All the scripture quotes are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition:

New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

except for the few noted in the text as New American Bible (NAB)

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. The Gospel Of Mark As Seen From The Perspective Of The Warrior/Idealist Archetype

2. The Gospel Of Matthew As Seen From The Perspective Of The Sovereign Archetype

3. The Gospel Of Luke As Seen From The Perspective Of The Sage Archetypeluke

4. The Gospel Of John As Seen From The Perspective Of The Lover Archetypejohn

5. Celtic Knots, Epilog—Tying It All Together

Bibliography

For Jim, beloved spouse and faithful friend

INTRODUCTION

I have had a long love-affair with scripture. Strictly speaking, I know, you cannot have a love affair except with someone or something capable of reciprocity. So it is not possible to have a love affair with printed words on a page. But these particular words are not merely words on a page. They are words crafted by the Spirit, words that speak of the Word and make the Word present; and so they truly have been a love affair for me. In return for my diligence in seeking them, in studying them, in praying with them, I have felt love greatly increased and insights greatly enhanced. It has not been a blind love affair. I have done my best to find out all I can about the scriptures from word-smiths archeology, history and other persons who have had this same drive. During work for my Master’s in Theological Studies, I had a great professor who had us do a comparison of the gospels for the course in scripture. That course had a profound effect upon me. I also appreciate greatly the courses and writings of Luke Timothy Johnson and Richard Rohr as well as the writings of the Jesuit Robert Dorian on Jung. I treasure the books on the mystical life by Jesuit William Johnston and The Christian Trinity in History by yet another Jesuit, Bertrand de Margerie.

Archetypes

In this writing I seek to apply to the gospels the major archetypes as decoded by Dr. Robert L. Moore. Moore is a tremendous scholar of world religions and schools of psychology. Archetypes, as Moore explains them, can be loosely described as major channels of energy through which all human beings express themselves. Our bodies have arms and legs which we use to move in the physical world. Our minds/spirits have, as it were, channels through which our life energy reaches out to and deals with the mental and spiritual world. These channels are given personas (names) or personal identities to help us understand them. The archetypes should not be confused with entities in the spiritual world outside of ourselves such as angels. When I first heard archetypes spoken of, the language was so similar to that used to describe non-corporeal spirits that I dismissed the whole notion as another piece of New Age syncretism. Since discovering someone of Moore’s stature addressing this topic, I have taken a second look and found many profound ideas. As Paul said: Whatsoever things are true, hold on to them! (cf. Phil 4:8).

I like Moore’s comparison of archetypes to magnetic fields. Though we are seldom consciously aware of it, the magnetic field created by the iron core at the center of our planet and the magnetic poles of north and south is responsible for creating the conditions that allow our atmosphere and our life forms to exist. Likewise in the world of the human psyche there are these magnetic fields that allow the atmosphere of human relations to exist.

Through some of his works such as his book, The King, the Warrior, the Magician and the Lover and even more through his lectures (see bibliography), Moore’s identifies four basic archetypes (Actually, though, there are eight of them in that every person has them in both a feminine and a masculine form). I believe that fascinating insights can be obtained from considering how one of the four stands out in each of our Gospels. I see the gospel of Matthew as expressing the Kingly energy, the gospel of Mark the Warrior energy, the gospel of Luke the Sage energy and John’s gospel the Lover energy. I think that those same energies can been seen in the history of Christianity. It has been said that psychology has become a substitute for spirituality. That may be true to some degree. But I think that we must also have openness to all knowledge. Whatever is truthful can contribute to spirituality.

A remarkable thing about these archetypes is that no one of them stands alone. Becoming too deeply identified with just one of them leads to imbalance and pathology. Kingly energy (creative, organizational) which does not listen to the voice of the Sage, the energy of learning and wisdom, will fall far short of what it could accomplish. Warrior energy which does not serve the purposes of Kingly energy (justice) will become an end in itself, a destructive force. Sage energy which pursues knowledge for its own sake will become a sterile, negative influence. Lover energy which is chaotic (not connected to the organizational energy of the King), uninformed (not imbued with the wisdom of the Sage) and misdirected (not directed by the singleness of purpose of the Warrior) will become a false god.

It is interesting that in Greek philosophy (and Christian morality patterned after it) we have the same four energies expressed as virtues: justice, prudence, courage and temperance. Moore relates the cardinal virtue of justice to the King archetype. Likewise, we can relate the virtue of courage (and the courage it takes to be faithful) to the Warrior archetype; the virtue of prudence to the Sage energy; and lastly, the virtue of temperance has to govern the Lover energy without which it would consume us.

I believe, we have much to learn from exploring combinations of Scripture and the archetypes as identified by Moore. Often we see contradictions where a deeper look reveals complementarity. It was said of Teresa of Avila that she had wisdom, understanding and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore (Liturgy for her feastday). It seems to me, that psychology can provide more than a few grains of those sands which make up the vast shore where the sea of divine reality meets our earthiness.

Gospels

Our four gospels treat the same story but very differently from each other. Together they make up the heart of our Christian Testament. It has become a passion of current scholars to speculate about the reasons for the differences. At the same time, pointing out the inconsistencies and seeming contradictions has been a favorite topic of the critics of Christianity. To explain major causes of the differences between the gospels, current scripture scholars look to the locale and historical circumstances of the different Christian communities for whom each gospel was written. I think there is one further possibility, which is, so to speak, Another Pair of Eyes with which to contemplate these four gospels: one based on the major archetypes.

There are ways in which the gospels are related and in which they need each other to give us a full experience of Christian truth. It seems to me, that one way is the same as the way the four major archetypes complement one another. Each needs all of the others to achieve its own fullness. There is interdependence between them. We could say the same thing of the gospels: having all four represented offers a kind of completeness and complementarity which makes having four gospels, each with its own perspective, very rewarding to the human psyche.

Image of God

Dr. Moore uses the image of an octahedron to explain his work. An octahedron is two pyramids joined at the base to form one unit. Each of the four sides of the pyramid represents one of the four archetypes of Sovereign, Warrior, Sage and Lover. The second pyramid represents these in feminine form. I would add one further dimension of symbolism to this configuration. Each side of the pyramid is a triangle. Moore uses the triangle to explain the growth from primitive expressions of the archetype to the mature form. Without denying the truth of his observation, I would like to suggest still another meaning. The triangle is a Christian symbol of the Trinity. Thus in this work on the gospels, I shall devote quite a bit of attention to this mystery of the Three, the Trinity.

For us the image of God is based upon the fundamental truth that our God is a Trinity. Our capacity to relate to God and to others comes from that most basic of all relationships, the relationship between the divine Persons. God is beyond sexuality and gender (although all sexual traits and instincts are part of the image of God within us). We profess that God is at once the source of all masculine and feminine traits but also transcends them. Our sexual identity with all its archetypical manifestations is crucial to our personal identity, but it does not determine either the image of God within us or our ultimate destiny. Christians are a Trinitarian people. It is the mystery of the Trinity that determines who we are.

To each divine Person can be attributed masculine and feminine traits and expressions of those traits, but beyond that, they exist in a mystery of relatedness that is the source of everything created. To define that relatedness and exactly how it is expressed remains beyond our capacity, nevertheless we get some small glimpses in the writings of saints and scholars. In Augustine’s thought memory, which holds our identity for us, is like the First Person. Intelligence, which enables us to reflect upon our own existence, is like the Second Person who is the Word or Image of the First Person. The ability to love or make free choices enables us to mirror the Spirit, who is the activity of the other two Persons in their eternal loving interaction.

Moore correctly points out in his book Facing the Dragon, that everyone has a need to be God. That need can be expressed in pathological manifestations of any one of the archetypes in our psyche. The need to be God is simply a perversion of the need to be fully united with the source of our creation the image in which we are made. We are a pattern which seeks to be one with its designer. Our hearts, as Augustine says, are restless until they rest in Thee.

Method and purpose

The traits I list for each archetype are taken directly from Dr. Moore’s works on the Archetypes (see his book: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover). In each chapter of my book I look at these traits and at how they are found in one of the gospels. In addition to the gospels themselves, within each chapter I discuss how the archetype under discussion in association with that gospel has been manifest in the life of the church. I first heard this notion expressed by Moore himself commenting upon religious orders in the church. I have further developed that idea in light of church history. Finally, I have some reflections on what church life might be like if we fully understood each gospel.

My purposes for writing can be summed up as, first of all, wanting to further in some small way the living of the life of the Trinity in the Christian community. Next: wanting to open new avenues to understanding the scriptures through some of the ways the gospels were written—the language of symbolism and multi-layered meanings. The gender issue is certainly important to me because it is part of the truth. And finally, I think that we need to discover new ways of appreciating the charisms of religious orders.

I prefer to write in the style of Augustine, Origen, Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Siena: blending personal reflection with symbolic interpretation of the gospels to further a scriptural spirituality. I deeply respect and rely upon scripture scholars both Catholic and Protestant. I stand on their shoulders, so to speak, to see this vision presented by Another Pair of Eyes. My work, however, is not biblical scholarship, nor should it be regarded as such. I do not attempt to cover every verse in each gospel but have chosen to comment upon the verses that appear to show the strongest psychological influence of the archetypes. The final and complete vision revealed in Another Pair of Eyes will prove to be a self-evident truth that in no way contradicts any sound biblical scholarship. I have chosen not to footnote texts but I do provide an extensive bibliography. I also am creating a blog in which further reflections are offered on the readings of each Sunday of the year and which can provide a forum for discussion: hhtp://kingwarriorsageloverinthegospels.com.

MARK

I can’t remember when I first had the insight that Mark’s gospel can be allied to the Warrior/Activist Archetype, but as I heard it many more times in the liturgy, meditated on it and read books about it, I became more and more convinced that this is so. My understanding of the magnetic energy of the Warrior/Activist archetype is that we are drawn to certain characteristics when under its influence. These characteristics according to Dr. Robert Moore are altruism, idealism, activitism, loyalty, preparedness and courage.

The Warrior Energy

Altruism is the quality of looking beyond oneself to concern for others. There is a certain nobility of character in those who put others before themselves. The famous Prayer of St. Francis demonstrates this quality very dramatically:

Grant that I may seek more to console than to be consoled,

To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

Idealism is the quality of always looking for the best in others and in every situation. St. Ignatius’ Presupposition is one of the best expressions of this quality, to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.

Abe Lincoln was said to have expressed this with: There is so much good in the worst of us, so much bad in the best of us… that it ill behooves any of us to speak badly of the rest of us.

Idealism can lead to a certain kind of naiveté. Catherine of Siena, it would seem, was one of those people who became the victim of her own idealistic naiveté, embracing an unrealistic idealism. She strove to bring about peace between petty kingdom states with little success and finally died of a broken heart over the schism that wrenched the church she loved so much.

In Don Quixote, Cervantes has given us a humorous picture of the tragedy of trying to apply ideals without consideration of a current situation. Don Quixote’s ideals are wonderful but he has no practical sense of applying them except in a fantasy world.

Ideals, however, are very important to our mental health. Without them we flounder in mediocrity and uselessness. Ideals are like the stars—we need them to guide us even though they remain always out of our grasp. Spiritually speaking, the closer we get to them the more we realize that we are still a very great way off.

Activitism is the practice of intense involvement for a particular purpose. Ignatius’ prayer best summarizes this:

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous

Teach me to serve you as you deserve

To give and not to count the cost

To fight and not to heed the wounds

To toil and not to seek for rest

To labor and not to seek for reward

Except that of knowing that I am doing your will.

The prayer includes the phrase to fight because Christian life is, of necessity, a struggle with evil forces, be they human or angelic. We have to fight against our own less worthy tendencies and we have to struggle for justice in the world. Anyone who sets about doing good will immediately be faced with a multitude of obstacles.

Unfortunately many people, without even knowing that they are doing so, identify with, rather than consciously seek to manage, the Warrior Archetype. When that happens they take it upon themselves to be at war with anything or anyone they deem to be unrighteous as compared with themselves. This was the struggle Jesus had with some of the Pharisaical leaders. Modern warriors are of this type, that is, persons who are possessed by, rather than consciously able to utilize this energy. Some examples from the world of religions would be liturgical police and heretic hunters. I worked in a parish where there was a gentleman who came to the evening Mass solely to take notes on what we did wrong so he could take me, the pastor, the bishop and even the Vatican to task for even the slightest infringement of liturgical rubrics. I finally asked him why he came. If the Mass meant what he professed it did, he should be so overcome with love and devotion that he would not even notice such things.

Patriotism and war can easily be confused with righteous activity. Many a marching war song is used to activate the energy associated with this archetype as we hear in the song on the battlement in Les Miserables:

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

(FEUILLY)

Will you give all you can give

So that our banner may advance

Some will fall and some will live

Will you stand up and take your chance?

The blood of the martyrs

Will water the meadows of France!

We also hear it in the US Battle Hymn of the Republic:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

But a careful, sincere reading of the gospel will actually show us that physical battle is not the best or desired way to freedom. Jesus’ last words to Peter were Put up your sword… ! War should be the absolute last resort to correcting a grievous injustice.

Preparedness is the quality of always being ready to do what has to be done—to spring into action even to the point of death if need be. A good example of this is the Jesuits resolve to be at the disposal of the Holy Father—to go whenever, wherever needed. Similar mottos govern some of our military services, Marines: Semper Fidelis. Coast Guard: Semper Paratus.

Loyalty is the quality of faithfulness. The Book of Revelation in particular emphasizes this quality:

. . . grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Rev. 1:4-8

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw