The symbolism of evil
Religious perspectives, v. 17
Former Course Reserve reading
xv, 357 pages 22 cm
896361
Part I
The primary symbols: defilement, sin, guilt
Introduction: phenomenology of "confession"
1. speculation, myth, and symbol
2. criteriology of symbols
3. The philosophical "re-enactment" of confession
Chapter I. Defilement
1. The impure
2. Ethical terror
3. The symbolism of stain
4. The sublimation of dread
Chapter II. Sin
1. The category of "before God": the covenant
2. The infinite demand and the finite commandment
3. The "wrath of God"
4. The symbolism of sin: (1) sin as "nothingness"
5. The symbolism of sin: (2) sin as positive
Chapter III. Guilt
1. Birth of a new stage
2. Guilt and penal imputation
3. Scrupulousness
4. The impasse of guilt
Conclusion: recapitulation of the symbolism of evil in the concept of the servile will
Part II
The "myths" of the beginning and of the end
Introduction: The symbolic function of myths
1. From the primary symbols to myths
2. Myth and gnosis: the symbolic function of the narration
Toward a "typology" of myths of the beginning and the end of evil
Chapter I. The drama of creation and the "ritual" vision of the world
1. Primordial chaos
2. The ritual re-enactment of the creation and the figure of the king
3. A "recessive" form of the drama of creation: the hebrew king
4. A "mutant" form of the drama of creation: the hellenic titan
Chapter II. The wicked God and the "tragic" vision of existence
1. The pre-tragic themes
2. The crux of the tragic
3. Deliverance from the tragic or deliverance within the tragic?
Chapter III. The "adamic" myth and the "eschatological" vision of history
1. The penitential motivation of the "adamic" myth
2. The structure of the myth: the "instant" of the fall
3. The "lapse of time" of the drama of temptation
4. Justification and eschatological
Chapter IV. The myth of the exiled soul and salvation through knowledge
1. The archaic myth: "soul" and "body"
2. The final myth
3. Salvation and knowledge
Chapter V. The cycle of the myths
1. From the statics to the dynamics of the myth
2. The reaffirmation of the tragic
3. The appropriation of the myth of chaos
4. The struggle between the adamic myth and the myth of exile
Conclusion: the symbol gives rise to thought
Translation of La symbolique du mal, the 2d pt. of Finitude et culpabilité, which was published as v. 2 of the author's Philosophie de la volonté