The New Yorker has an interesting essay on Elaine Pagel's new book, "“Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation” (Viking). I posted the following on Facebook about the New Yorker essay:
I grew up in the New Church, which is based on Swedenborg's symbolic reading of the Book of Revelation. I am interested to learn if Elaine Pagels takes up Swedenborg in her new book...
I'm also interested in the way she reads Revelations as a coded description of the religious politics at the time of its writing. In my own studies of mythology, I've argued that some myths -- like the one of Persephone's abduction -- are likewise coded commentaries about life in ancient times, as much as expressions of archetypal themes...
It's the latter that particularly interests me. The subject is taken up convincingly in the book of essays, "Archetypal Process." It goes a long way in explaining James Hillman's extreme reluctance to take up certain themes, like gender and sexuality -- a subject I explored in my dissertation.
