Nedärvda arketyper och nutida tolkningsauktoriteter i myten om urmatriarkatet

• ”INHERITED ARCHETYPES AND MODERN AUTHORITIES IN THE MYTH OF PRIMORDIAL MATRIARCHY. Origin, Timelessness and Unity in two Popular Exegeses of Greek Mythology and its Prehistory, Later Destiny, and Present Possibilities”The article examines the various types of authority and the processes of authorization discernible in two popular texts representing that particular genre of spiritual feminism, which applies a Jungian archetypal perspective on ancient Greek myths. First, the version of “The Myth of Primordial Matriarchy” that is found in these texts is discussed critically in relation to archaeological and historical knowledge as well as reasonable argument. Second, the two concepts “archetypes” and “goddesses”, which are the most important authorities explicitly brought forward in the texts, are discussed as regards the different theological and ontological presuppositions discernible. The relationship between these authorities and others, such as ancient texts, modern scholars and the writers themselves, is also discussed. The author of this article concludes that the process of authorisation is based on a myth that is effective in binding together the different levels of timelessness, creation and origin, personalized tragic biography, inherited essence, and women’s situation and proposed roads to awareness today. The myth’s effectiveness is partly due to the concept of the divine: usually it is presented as immanent, but several statements about the goddesses and archetypes are more easily interpreted in transcendental terms. As an effect, readers of the texts may view history in its entirety as a personal biography of the Goddess, who is at the same time an innate aspect of each individual. Finally, the author questions the absolutizing and dichotomizing presuppositions of the gendered concept of divinity which is found in the texts, as well as the implications of the psychological ideal for human individuals.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionshistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- History of Religions (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

myter; nyandlighet; arketyper; gudinnor; grekisk mytologi; religiösa auktoriteter

History of religion

Religionshistoria

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)