In the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta we are advancing both together. A lay-led parish program that began in 1991 at Emmanuel Church in Athens, Georgia, offers an introductory class on the principles of Jungian psychology in a Christian context. Graduates of the class may join the parish's dream group, which has been meeting weekly, year around, for almost nine years. A Jungian library supports both the introductory class and the dream group. Individuation happens in the dream group.
Lives change and religious experience deepens.
The program emphasizes self-education in Jungian psychology and an intensified participation in traditional Christian life. It is traditional Christianity that provides the safe container that keeps the inner work on its true path. This is producing a much livelier outcome than did the old, going-nowhere dance of which you speak in your opening discussion. We are very excited about this in our part of the country. We feel that once we have made Jungian inner work a reality in our churches, the Christian theologians will awaken to it and begin to catch up the Jungian-Christian dialogue to meet the experience of the local congregations who have gone forward as leaders in this area.