Sacred Disobedience - by Sharon L Coggan (Paperback)

About the Book

This book traces the Greek Goat God Pan who became distorted into the image of the Devil in early Christianity. It offers a Jungian analysis of the repression, distortion, recovery, and reintegration of what Jung calls the "Shadow," as represented by the Goat God.

Book Synopsis

This book traces the Greek Goat God Pan who became distorted into the image of the Devil in early Christianity. It offers a Jungian analysis of the repression, distortion, recovery, and reintegration of what Jung calls the "Shadow," as represented by the Goat God.

Review Quotes

The book will potentially be of the most interest to scholars already predisposed to a Jungian interpretation of the history of religions, as well as those interested in the connections between religion and nature.

Sacred Disobedience is just the right title for this substantive book. Sharon L. Coggan calls for differentiation of the Pan archetype--the love for and joy in nature and of nature in us as our body--from the contaminating overlay of the Devil. Recognizing that Pan is at once 'benevolent protector and savage predator, ' and using Jung's emphasis on our conscious relation to such intensity of power rather than identification with it or repudiation of it, Coggan argues for the inclusion of Pan energies in ourselves and in society. We may thereby embrace the sacred in our material world. Her extensive research includes varied areas--Axial cultures, Platonism, Stoicism, the Grail, exorcism, Elvis, jazz, disobedience, the Council of Elvira. Her extensive footnotes offer the reader even more resources. A generous and passionate offering.

About the Author

Sharon L. Coggan is associate professor, Clinical Teaching Track at the University of Colorado Denver and serves as Director of the Religious Studies Program, which she created.