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Summary
- Shadow work comes from Carl Jung’s idea of the shadow, the side of the personality a person does not recognize or does not wish to be; Scripture never mentions it.
- The popular Shadow Work Journal by Keila Shaheen spread on TikTok in 2023; its author says it is not a strict interpretation of Jung or a replacement for analysis.
- The Bible speaks of hidden faults and self-examination (Psalm 19:12; 139:23–24; Matthew 7:5; 2 Corinthians 13:5) and joins them to confession and forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
- The Catholic Church prepares for confession with an examination of conscience “in the light of the Word of God” (Catechism 1454).
- Richard Rohr and John A. Sanford use Jung’s idea of the shadow; the Dominican Victor White worked with Jung but rejected his view of evil.
- A 2003 Vatican document on the New Age criticizes Jung for making psychology sacred and for treating evil as a “shadow side” of God.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: Psalm 19:12; 139:23–24; Jeremiah 17:9–10; Mark 7:21–22; Matthew 7:5; 1 Corinthians 4:4; 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:22–24.
- C. G. Jung, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (1951), Collected Works vol. 9, part 2, para. 14, as quoted in Daryl Sharp, Jung Lexicon (1991).
- Andrew Samuels, Bani Shorter and Fred Plaut, A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (1986), “Shadow”; Hans Dieckmann, “Shadow (Analytical Psychology),” International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2005); both as quoted in Pacifica Graduate Institute, “A Library Guide to Jung’s Collected Works: Shadow.” https://pacifica.libguides.com/Jung/shadow
- “The hidden self: can the Shadow Work Journal help you face your dark side?” The Guardian, 3 November 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2023/nov/03/what-is-shadow-work-journal-tiktok-carl-jung
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1431 and 1454. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P4A.HTM
- Richard Rohr, “Shadowboxing” (8 September 2019), “Nodding to the Shadow” (11 September 2019) and “Shadow Work in the Gospels” (24 November 2021), Center for Action and Contemplation daily meditations. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/shadowboxing-2019-09-08/
- John A. Sanford, Evil: The Shadow Side of Reality (New York: Crossroad, 1981).
- “Victor White (priest),” Wikipedia, citing Ann Conrad Lammers, In God’s Shadow: The Collaboration of Victor White and C. G. Jung (Paulist Press, 1994). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_White_(priest)
- Augustine of Hippo, Enchiridion, chapter 11. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm
- Pontifical Council for Culture and Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian reflection on the “New Age” (2003), section 2.3.2 and glossary. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
- Mitch Pacwa, Catholics and the New Age (Ann Arbor: Servant, 1992).
- Richard Noll, The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement (1994), as summarized in The Guardian, 3 November 2023.
