Eugen Drewermann is a Jungian scholar and analyst as well as a brilliant academic theologian. He is known for his interpretation of the Bible from the point of view of Jungian depth psychology and for his staunch criticism of the Catholic Church — to which he belonged for 65 years, since his birth in 1940 — especially regarding the formation of the clergy.
His 1989 book Kleriker: Psychogramm eines Ideals (Clergy: The Psychogram of an Ideal) attracted lightning from the Vatican. It details how the formation of Catholic priests follows an unrealistic ideal of human being which, by disallowing the humanity of the candidates, creates neurotic individuals who are not in the least ready to guide other people in their spiritual or moral life.
Drewermann’s inability or unwillingness to mince words was not loved by Ratzinger (see yesterday’s DM). In 1991 he was fired from his tenured position as a professor of theology. The next year he was forbidden to speak in public as a priest. Later, in 2005, he left the Catholic Church.
It is not merely his conflict with the Vatican, however, that is interesting, but his main thesis. Religion — says Drewermann — should free people from their existential anxiety (Angst). Christianity, in particular, has a big role to play in this sense. Bad religion and bad Christianity, however, end up increasing the level of fear and anxiety. They don’t just fail at their job, therefore, but they betray themselves and become demonic structures.
Drewermann does not work with the distinction between spirituality and religion — which is a very helpful tool to make people immediately see the good kernel of a bad institution — and does not insist on class differences or base-communities. He is defined to some extent by his cultural context, that of a middle-class European. Yet, he has been single-mindedly devoted throughout his career to freeing people from their inner chains. In this sense, he is an ally to both Creation Spirituality and Liberation Theology.
His perspective can even be seen as complementing the other two. Both Fox and Boff deal with psychology quite a bit and in competent ways, but Drewermann zeroes in with uncanny precision on the mental structures and complexes, and their interplay with bad religion, which prevent people from living a full life.
Drewermann believes that there is no future for humanity unless the individuals are freed from the power of Angst. This often entails a tortuous journey. Much respect and compassion are needed therefore toward oneself and others. And much precise analysis of the ways in which Angst enslaves the single individual.
Yet in itself the cure is simple: it consists in nothing more and nothing less than trusting God utterly and unreservedly, thus gaining an absolute anchor outside the turmoil of time and history. God only can bestow blessings and peace to the soul. Families and institutions — the Church first and foremost — present themselves as sources of security, but in reality they perpetuate the cycle of Angst with their threats around obedience/disobedience.
Even with this further explanation, I feel that when I present Drewermann’s “solution” to an American audience I must take into consideration the centuries of Puritan tradition which has presented God as a violent, omnipotent, and ultimately sadistic individual. With such an image of the divine engrained in the deep strata of one’s psyche, all and any appeals to trust God unreservedly can only provoke a high level of anxiety and fear, which is the opposite of the hoped-for result.
It is important to realize, therefore, when studying and critiquing Drewermann’s work, that he promotes an image of God completely opposite to the one preached for centuries in the West and made even uglier in modern times by the Puritan strand of the Reformation, the main influence on the American psyche with regard to religion.
The God whom Drewermann calls us to trust is still an individual, to the extent that we need to perceive in God the human qualities of a loving parent whose acceptance of us is unconditional, but is also much more than that. When we feel torn by the storms of life, we need to anchor the boat of our life very deeply and trust in that point where, below the stormy sea, more abysmal than the abyss itself, a sturdy seabed gives us an anchoring (see Mark 4).
In other words, trusting in this kind of God is an experience which can only be pointed to. It cannot be forced on people, and has little to do with their agreeing to ideas about God. It can only be described poetically and symbolically — just like Jesus and the Gospels do — in the hope that hearers will be enticed to search in their depths for the presence of such absolute and infinite source of love and security.
However, we are not abandoned to our own devices. There is a healthy sequence of physical, tangible events that can happen. People who have such an experience of the divine are freed from Angst and, consequently, from the need to project fear and disdain on others. They become able to welcome others unconditionally. Meeting people like these usually represents the beginning of a chain of events leading to one’s personal transformation.
God in the end for Drewermann is nothing else than the deepest experience of liberation and the deepest source of strength to individuals, who are called to maturity, enjoyment of life, and prophetic witness.
Most of Drewermann’s essential works are not translated in English. The main point of reference for studying him is Matthias Beier, A Violent God-Image: An Introduction to the Work of Eugen Drewermann (Continuum: 2004). The quote above in the DM comes from his commentary on the Gospel of Mark, in the Italian edition, p. 145.
Banner Image: Expiating shame and guilt in the public square: “A Procession of Flagellants.” Francisco Goya, 1808-1812. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
Queries for Contemplation
Does Drewermann’s description of the human condition ring a bell? In what ways do you see it as useful for your own journey?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
Natural Grace: Dialogues on creation, darkness, and the soul in spirituality and science
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times (available for pre-order)
