1st Edition
The Roots of Jewish Consciousness (2 Volume set)
The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume One: Revelation and Apocalypse is the first volume, fully annotated, of a major, previously unpublished, two-part work by Erich Neumann (1905-1960). It was written between 1934 and 1940, after Neumann, then a young philosopher and physician and freshly trained as a disciple of Jung, fled Berlin to settle in Tel Aviv. He finished the second volume of this work at the end of World War Two. Although he never published either volume, he kept them the rest of his life.
The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume Two: Hasidism is the second volume, fullyannotated, of a major, previously unpublished, two-part work by Erich Neumann (1905-1960). It was written between 1940 and 1945, after Neumann, then a young philosopher and physician and freshly trained as a disciple of Jung, fled Berlin to settle in Tel Aviv. He finished this work at the end of World War Two. Although he never published it, he kept it the rest of his life.
These volumes anticipate Neumann’s later works, including Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, The Origins and History of Consciousness, and The Great Mother. His signature contribution to analytical psychology, the concept of the ego-Self axis, arises indirectly in Volume One, folded into Neumann’s theme of the tension between earth and YHWH. In Volume Two, Hasidism, his concept of the ego-Self axis is developed in clearly psychological terms. Four previously unpublished essays, appended to Volume Two, illustrate Neumann’s developmental psychology, including his theme of primary and secondary personalisation. This unique work will appeal to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists in training and in practice, historians of psychology, Jewish scholars, biblical historians, teachers of comparative religion, as well as academics and students.
From The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume One: Revelation and Apocalyspe
List of Illustrations. Preface by Nancy Swift Furlotti. Acknowledgements. Abbreviations. Introduction to Volume One, Ann Conrad Lammers; Introduction to the Work, Erich Neumann; Part One: The Problem of Revelation in Jewish Antiquity; Chapter 1: The YHWH-Earth Relation and Prophecy; Chapter 2: The Apocalyspe: Heightening the YHWH-Earth Tension; Chapter 3: The Dangerous Ending of the YHWH-Earth Tension; Chapter 4: Author's Appendices; Editorial Note; Bibliography; Index.
From The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume Two: Hasidism
List of Ilustrations; Foreword: On Erich Neumann and Hasidism, by Moshe Idel; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction to Volume Two by Ann Conrad Lammers; Part Two: Hasidism: Its Psychological Meaning for Judaism; Chapter 1: The Structure of the World as Inwardness; Chapter 2: The Transformation of Souls; Chapter Three: Life in this World; Chapter Four: The Human Being and the New Image of God; Chapter Five: Hasidism and the Birth of the Modern Jew; Appendix A: Passages from the Zohar in English Translation; Appendix B: The Importance of Consciousness in the Experience of Depth Psychology (Four-lecture series, 1942-43); Editorial Note; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Erich Neumann (1905-1960) was a student of C. G. Jung, a philosopher, psychologist and writer. Born in Germany, he moved to Israel in 1934, where he became a practicing analytical psychologist. His previously published works, including Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, have never been out of print.
Ann Conrad Lammers, Ph.D., received her Master of Divinity from The General Theological Seminary in New York and her doctorate in theology and psychology from Yale University. A Jungian psychotherapist and Marriage and Family Therapist, she retired from practice in 2015 to edit The Roots of Jewish Consciousness.
Praise for The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume One: Revelation and Apocalyspe
"'The Jewish problem and my work on it ended for me precisely at a time when it became conspicuous in the world in an indescribably ghastly way' (Neumann in 1945, at the end of World War II). I was the living witness of this ghastliness when I met Neumann in 1948. Being a survivor of Auschwitz with my whole family murdered, my god had only one face, and I was in dire need of help. Help came in the compassionate form of Erich Neumann, whose god had two faces.
It is an extraordinary experience to trace the development of Neumann’s early thoughts from revelation to the actualization of messianism in this remarkable book. Many cornerstones of Neumann’s opus are already in his Roots of Jewish Consciousness: the covenant between God and his people; God holding the opposites together; the ego/Self axis; the transcendent function; secondary personalization; and foremost, the emphasis on a strong ego as the conditio sine qua non for moral man. In this thoughtful and profound publication, Neumann shows himself to be the independent thinker he was, vis-à-vis the first generation of Jungians who were fascinated by the unconscious.
At a meeting between Erich Neumann and Gershom Scholem in 1959, in Neumann’s flat in Tel Aviv, he asked me to just listen to their conversation. What a conversation! The atmosphere in the room was charged, with both men evidently in the grip of strong emotions. They had a long and rather loud discussion. Would Neumann have changed something in his writing if destiny had given him more time?" - Dvora Kutzinski, Jungian Analyst; friend and supervisee of Dr. Erich Neumann, Tel Aviv, Israel
"Unsurprisingly, Volume One of this previously unpublished work of Erich Neumann delivers exactly what the title states in clear, and scholarly labored, depth and breadth. For me, a Jewish reader, it stirs my Jewish soul and roots. But it is much more than a history and analysis of the roots of Jewish consciousness. To those familiar with Jungian theory, this work puts additional meat on the structural bones of some of Jung’s theories, most particularly his theory of the collective unconscious. And beyond that, for those who will give a reflective reading of this profound work, it does throw light in evolutionary terms on the eruption of the shadow and psychic chaos in today’s world. Neumann’s analyses of the historical and psychic influence not only his Jewish roots, but those of the spirit of the times as reflected in Gnosticism, Christianity as well as a radical view of the responsibility of the Jewish individual in today’s world as the carrier of those roots as compared with Judaism itself. I can think of no other contemporary work on the evolution of the Jewish psyche and its footprint in the world than this work." - Jerome S. Bernstein, M.A.P.C., NCPsyA; Jungian Analyst
Praise for The Roots of Jewish Consciousness, Volume Two: Hasidism
"Erich Neumann is cited more than any single psychoanalytic writer in the ever-growing exploration of Kabbalah and psychology. So it is gratifying that his work on Kabbalah and Hasidism can now enrich this vibrant discussion. Neumann’s especial contribution is the development of the theme of dual transformation, of the world and of the soul, for Jewish mystical psychology, and highlighting the Hasidic move away from moralism towards radical embracing of the full range of psychic manifestation. This exquisitely crafted project will be of profound interest to all who are concerned with the religious life as such." - Professor Jonathan Garb, Gershom Scholem Chair in Kabbalah; Chair, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
