Archetype of the Apocalypse: Divine Vengeance, Terrorism, and the End of the World

by Edward F. Edinger, George R. Elder (Editor)

The collective belief in Armageddon has become more powerful and widespread in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. Edward Edinger looks at the chaos predicted by the Book of Revelation and relates it to current trends including global violence, AIDS, and apocalyptic cults.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Edward F. Edinger was a medical psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and American writer.
Edward F. Edinger Jr. was born on December 13, 1922, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earning his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington and his Doctor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine in 1946. In November 1947, as a first lieutenant, he started a four-week Medical Field Service School at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He became a military doctor in the United States Army Medical Corps and was in Panama. In New York in 1951, he began his analysis with Mary Esther Harding, who had been associated with C.G. Jung.
Edinger was a psychiatrist supervisor at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York, and later founder member of the C.G. Jung Foundation in Manhattan and the CG Jung Institute in New York. He was president of the institute from 1968 until 1979, when he moved to Los Angeles. There he continued his practice for 19 years, becoming senior analyst at the CG Jung Institute of Los Angeles.
He died on July 17, 1998, at his home in Los Angeles at age 75, according to family members due to bladder cancer.

Reviews

[Abner Rosenweig · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's difficult to rate any of Edinger's work less than 5 stars. He was one of the greatest expositors of depth psychology and whatever he wrote contains profound insight into human and transpersonal psychology. I give this book five stars despite the fact that it trawls through the Book of Revelation with a fine-tooth comb and examines each image and symbol in great detail. I was hoping for a more general discussion of the apocalypse archetype and how it applies to modern civilization. This discussion does appear, but only in the book's introduction and final chapter. Rather than social or cultural commentary, most of the book then feels merely like literary criticism. When Edinger does discuss the individual and collective implications of apocalyptic imagery, and how this imagery is relevant in the modern world, the book really soars, and it becomes one of the finest analyses of its kind anywhere.

Edinger contends society is in the grip of the apocalypse archetype, a great historical turning point, the "momentous event of the coming of the Self into conscious realization." He sees evidence for this in the widespread breakdown of social structures: in politics, religion, culture, social institutions, even in individual psychology. The apocalypse archetype moves through phases, like a grand initiation: the "revelation" -- a shattering insight accompanied by the flow of transpersonal images into consciousness; "judgement" in the form of an abrupt and profound awareness of the shadow; "punishment" manifested as individual anxiety in the midst of the transformation; and, finally, the coming of a "new world" through mandala and quaternity images, signifying a move toward a new wholeness.

This new wholeness for civilization is by no means guaranteed. "The coming of the Self is always an upheaval," Edinger says, and he points out that our current transitional phase "bodes catastrophe for the stubbornly rationalistic, secular ego that refuses to grant the existence of a greater psychic authority than itself."

To avoid disaster and navigate safe passage to a better world, Edinger repeats Jung's proclamation that, in our times, "nothing is more important than the existence of a certain number of individuals who understand what is going on." Hopefully the readers of this text and others like it can slice through the dark sea of unconscious noise and light the way to a healthy future for humanity.

[P.S. Carrillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admittedly, I had some problem getting into the text of his ambitious book. I have read another of Edinger's books, Ego and Archetype, and was astounded at his insights, but this book was rough going in part due to its grinding line by line analysis of the Book of Revelation. I wish the author would have spent more time on his interpretations of what this means for the modern age. Still great in its own way and the last chapter does a great job making the message relevant.

[Ed Wojniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting interplay between Christian thought, mythology and analytic psychology. Edinger posits The Book of Revelation as an uncovering of the eruption that results from the ultimate union of opposites. In so doing, he underscores the necessity of doing shadow work of which Trumpism might be a demonstration of this and a prelude to apocalypse.

[J. Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything Edinger ever wrote. He is clear, concise, trustworthy. Archetype of the Apocalypse is a solid analysis of contemporary violence, religious as well as social.

[Robert Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my fourth journey with the author, and while I appreciate the interpretative analysis and there is some mention of academic humility, I do worry with how certain he can be with asserting the meanings of the imagery - I may have spent more time with James Hillman in this regard: stick to the image! I did like the book, it was an interesting read through parts of the Book of Revelation, which I have read before, and the notice on the need to sublimate the cycles of transition through psychologically-informed leadership I wholeheartedly support. It was just under 200 pages, a fairly quick read, and if you're new to the author, I would suggest reading something else first: I enjoyed both "Ego and Archetype" and "Anatomy of the Psyche" as great introductions into his corpus on alchemy and Jungian analysis - I would caution any prospective student in idolizing Jung as an authority beyond reproach; he was a human subject to fallibility like all the rest of us - otherwise, it was a good read, perhaps fitting for these times: my own read on overlays for the theme are the American Civil War 2.0 fear, the War on Drugs in relation to fentanyl, World War 3 with Communist China or revanchist Russia, or AI dystopia leading to Skynet/Ultron or Orwellian techno-control through a Cyber Panopticon (this last one might admittedly already exist). I agree with Edinger's solution as to bringing objective consciousness, either individually (which is all we can really do) or collectively, to limit and discipline the tendency for the herd instinct of the mass society to panic off the cliff of preventable collapse and dispossess of primordial instincts. I recommend it.

[David Loiseaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and engaging follow-up to Jung's Answer to Job. His explanation of the Christian myth and the Revelation of John was intriguing. It would be interesting to speculate what Edinger would have changed had he been able to read the Red Book.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s definitely got some of the classic grand theory white man problems but i still found it interesting and enjoyable

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book. It gives inside into revelation from an psychological perspective and helps to answer many of the burning issures of our modern society.