THE MYSTERY OF HUMAN PERSON ACCORDING TO NIKOLAI BERDYAEV AND C.G. JUNG
Abstract
The article deals with the possibility of developing religious thought and
church teaching in the light of the influence of the human personality on the change in the image
of God and on the capacity for the divine cognition. The generally accepted ideas of God’s being,
based on Greek thought and the sacred patristic heritage, do not allow God to need anything or
anyone else, since this would imply His incompleteness and imperfection. The concepts by N.A.
Berdyaev and C. G. Jung of personality presented in this article challenge this view and suggest
that God has a need for man. At the same time, Berdyaev only designates the idea of God’s
“need” as a need for communion with man, while Jung, using the biblical story of Job, offers a
detailed description of how man’s response to Yahweh can change the image of God himself. In
this regard, unconscious forms such as dreams, visions and epiphanies are more reliable
accounts of the nature of God than theological constructions.
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