Lectures : September | October | November | Printable PDF Version

October 13 - 14

Gene Powell Baker, M.Div, MSSW

The Gospel of Judas
Friday Evening Lecture, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Click for a printable PDF version of Rev. Baker's Lecture (abbreviated)

Is it possible that the Christian world is at last claiming its shadow? Does recent widespread interest in the so-called Gospel of Judas indicate a long overdue willingness to confront this archetype, or are we witnessing just another popular obsession? These and other questions surround the rediscovery in Egypt of this document, recently made available to scholars and the public by the National Geographical Society.

The Gospel of Judas has attracted the interest of Jungians since Judas has long been a shadow figure, a stand-in for Satan. He has been the irrepressible "daemon" as well as demon whose image we can disown and repress into the unconscious. However, Judas is the Trickster and refuses to be limited by all the projections of the Western World.

That there existed such a gospel was attested to by the early Church fathers, most notably St. Iraeneus. Written in Coptic around 150-170 C.E., it was lost for centuries until found in the Egyptian desert by a passing farmer. The Friday evening lecture will recount how The Gospel presents a positive view of Judas and how this may have implications for both psychology and theology in the Twenty-first Century.

Images of God and the Psyche in the Hebrew Scriptures
Saturday Workshop, 9:30 a.m. - noon

Does Holy Scripture have an overall goal psychologically? The Saturday workshop will provide a positive answer: yes, the development of human consciousness. Drawing on lectures by Edward Edinger and others, Gene will describe how the Bible does provide a pathway to individuation, culminating in the Christ archetype, a realization of the Self.

Gene Powell Baker is a retired Episcopal priest and clinical social worker. He first became active in the Analytical Psychology Association of Dallas, predecessor of the C.G. Jung Society, in 1977 and has remained active in the organization ever since. He holds an M.Div. from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin and the MSSW. from the University of Texas in Arlington. He has done post-graduate work in clinical counseling at the American Institute of Family Relations in Los Angeles. Gene has served in a number of psychiatric settings in the Dallas area as well as serving as a visiting priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.

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