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Robert Segal has done a great favour for readers of C.G. Jung, by extracting portions of Jung's writings on Gnosticism, grouping them together topically, with his own lengthy introduction and topping it all off with further expert references. The book seems useful to me for several reasons. While the purist or scholar may prefer to read Jung in his entirety on any subject, the average intelligent lay reader is easily put off by having to skip about, roaming - often confounded by repetitions - through the Collected Works. The professional analyst, too, can find here a ready reference for the major portion of Jung's substantive thought on the topic. Also, this reviewer's fantasy, or hope is that men and women from the world of religious inquiry may find access, here, to Jung's work. Jung's lifelong denial of theological responsibility in favour of establishing himself as scientifically credible may be understandable given his time in history, but today appears a bit defensive and occasionally frustrating. Currently, disciplines are openly finding common cause and new layers and levels of meaning are available as one area of expertise serves to amplify another.
The ready availability of Jung's work on Gnostic thought may be timely and helpful to numbers of spiritually sensitive persons who are no longer able to find a home in the institutional religions. Gilles Quispel, world authority on ancient religions and especially Gnosticism, says simply in The Birth of the Child, ‘Gnosis is based on the idea that there is something in man, his unconscious spirit, which is related to