Natural Spirituality: Recovering the Wisdom Tradition in Christianity [Paperback]

Joyce Rockwood Hudson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2001

NATURAL SPIRITUALITY moves Jungian dream work from the professional world of the analyst's office into the everyday world of the laity in the local church. The book offers serious Christians in every community an opportunity to embark on the spiritual path of individuation. With clarity and simplicity Joyce Hudson puts into her reader's hands the tools for inner work that Carl Jung offered to Christianity. She then goes beyond Jung to present original models of masculine and feminine wholeness. In illustrating the masculine model, she offers an analysis of the lives and music of the Beatles that is both insightful and entertaining. To illustrate the model of feminine wholeness, Hudson joins ranks with C.S. Lewis, Robert Johnson, Marie-Louise von Franz, and Erich Neumann in putting forth her own interpretation of the classical myth of Psyche and Eros. Finally, she offers detailed advice and helpful resources for instituting continuing programs for inner work in local churches. While maintaining deep respect for Church tradition, this highly readable work opens the door for an expanded and enlivened Christianity.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOYCE ROCKWOOD HUDSON is the founder and director of the Natural Spirituality Program at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia. She is the author of seven books, including the award-winning novel "To Spoil the Sun" and a new novel, "Apalachee," about a Native American wise woman in the early colonial South.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: JRH Publications; 2 edition (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893383555
• ISBN-13: 978-1893383555
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is HOPE for the Organized Church, May 31, 2009

By 

Wilda M. Ferguson (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Natural Spirituality: Recovering the Wisdom Tradition in Christianity (Paperback)

In this book, Joyce Rockwood Hudson provide Christians a wonderful roadmap to connect their inner spiritual growth with the traditional faith journeys we find in most churches. Through the Jungian focus on dream work and the process of individuation, Hudson provides tools to connect to the scripture in ways that honor the dreams and wisdom we have neglected in our rational world. The book is comprehensive but quite readible! Her original work on male/female wholeness are intriguing. Finally, she leaves the reader with tools to expand their personal inner work as well as grow the church to support and enhance the inner work of the congregation.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful and practical book for those Christians interested in exploring a Jungian-based spiritual journey, May 1, 2011

By 

Jamieson Haverkampf "Jamieson Haverkampf, aut... (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Natural Spirituality: Recovering the Wisdom Tradition in Christianity (Paperback)

This book helps Christians connect to the natural wisdom nature of God through explaining and encouraging the use of Jungian spiritual tools based in the Christian tradition. Hudson explains that if we respect and follow this relationship and its leadings through dreams and synchronicity, we will move toward our own inner and outer personal wholeness on a journey of individuation. Hudson describes how we come to this new way of thinking and perceiving through a transformational spiritual journey with the unconscious world that can't be denied. Along this journey, Hudson says we develop a new way of seeing, as Taoism teaches, and become more attentive to a spiritual dimension in the physical world in everything around us. She encourages the importance of individual and highly personal teachings from God through dreams and synchronicity as the ultimate spiritual teacher over following collective teachings. Hudson says that it is very important how we relate to the unconscious and that we take its truth's seriously and integrate it into our lives. She encourages us to bring the importance of individuation to churches through regular dream groups. If we choose this path, she says, we are following The Way and find our unique and harmonious place in life.

In chapter one, I really appreciated reading Hudson's inner/outer earthquake journey since I have had a similar experience in my life. It made me feel less alone with it. Her vulnerability to expose such intimate details of her life touched my heart. I liked how she validated and reinforced for me the importance of the 4 functions of consciousness, dreamwork, synchronicity, and the opposites. I liked how she showed the grace of the unconscious that compensates for our human-created false illusions. I also related to nature combining with the spirit of heaven to be our greatest teacher and the value of individual experience over collective truth as the ideal. The feminine wholeness chart and explanation along with the psyche and eros story really provided me a visual representation of the process I am now going through and the tasks involved on my individuation journey. I didn't relate as much to the Beatles section and would have preferred a more mythic story like she did for the feminine aspect but overall a wonderful helpful book for Christians interested in the understanding more about dreamwork, Jungian psychology, the individuation process and possibly forming or joining a dream group.

Ms. Jamieson Haverkampf
author of award-winning resource guide Mom Minus Dad: The Essential Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent
Mom Minus Dad: The Essential Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent
Mom Minus Dad: The Essential Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Guide for Spiritual Growth, January 21, 2011

By 

Margaret Tassey (A beach in Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Natural Spirituality: Recovering the Wisdom Tradition in Christianity (Paperback)

We have a group that reads and discusses books on spirituality. When we read The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message By Cynthia Bourgeault, I was reminded of this book. I was in Joyce Hudson's workshop several years ago (my original copy is spiral bound). Our group is now reading this book and most people have found it quite approachable. I think reading it like this, in a group with discussion, is really ideal. Jung can be a difficult read, but his concepts of the functions of consciousness and the unconscious are really helpful tools for understanding oneself. They also provide a common language for talking about spirituality.

The author is really open about the messy process of spiritual growth. The detail of her journey helps make this complex and fuzzy transformation more understandable. She was also committed to remaining within the Christian tradition and her church community. She was able to do that while remaining open to her own inner enlightenment. That is a tricky balance that many of us struggle with.