St. Cyprian and C.G. Jung on the Meaning of Suffering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic showed recently the frailty of human existence. Sickness, famine, and personal suffering are all part of human life, according to Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, but the question is how to deal with it. Due to COVID-19 and the inability to deal with suffering, we saw an upsurge in death, depression and despair. While modern approaches to suffering are manifold, whether suffering has meaning is a fundamental human question. In this paper, we look back to the Roman empire during the third century, when the Cyprianic plague held sway (about 251–262 CE), which was named after Bishop Cyprian of Carthage (c.200–258). Still unknown what it was precisely, it killed thousands, at some point in Rome alone, perhaps 5.000 a day. Recently, Kyle Harper focused on this plague in several influential studies (2015, 2020) and how it affected the Roman Empire. Yet, how did people cope with it? How does Cyprian give it a place in his pastoral theology: how does he give meaning to the suffering caused by the plague? Cyprian’s De Mortalitate from about 253 is pivotal in answering this question. We will compare Cyprian’s views with Carl Jung’s works, especially with Jung’s views on suffering as a central part of human life and how it can be given meaning by focusing on spiritual growth, as a bridge figure to the present.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEarly Christian Discourses on Crisis, Coping, and Cohesion
PublisherPeeters Publishing
Publication statusIn preparation - 2025

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