The archetypal appeal of Catholicism

1. Archetypes 

Although I've probably done hundreds of posts on Roman Catholicism, there's a significant aspect of Catholicism that I've largely neglected (with a partial exception). And that's the archetypal appeal of Catholicism. Much of the popular or enduring appeal of works like Homer, Ovid, Dante, Beowulf, Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, and Ray Bradbury (to name a few) lies in their ability to harness archetypes. And that extends to lowbrow writers like Stephen King. The role of archetypes has been explored by scholars and thinkers like Freud (e.g. The Interpretation of Dreams), Jung, Northrop Frye (mythos), Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell. The current fad for Jordan Peterson has revived popular interest in archetypes. 

2. Definitions

Archetypes are recurrent patterns in literature and in life. These patterns can be images (such as light and darkness), character types such as the hero and the trickster) or plot motifs (such as the quest and the initiation). These recurrent patterns are the building blocks of the literary imagination. Writers could not avoid using them if they tried. 

Archetypes are a universal language. We know what they mean simply by virtue of being humans in this world. We all know experiences of winter and hunger, sibling rivalry and tyrannical bullies. One scholar speaks of archetypes as "any of the immemorial patterns of response to the human situation in its most permanent aspects," L. Ryken & M. L. Mead, A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe (IVP 2005), 41. 

[Eliade] People want to abolish history, which reflects only appearances, to touch the underlying reality that it can only dimly manifest. By defining a sacred space or sacred acts, one can uncover or reveal the real…Sacred or liturgical calendars repeat the act of creation as the gods performed it…They are thus exemplary models, human acts through which one relives the myths that give meaning to religious life. Reliving the myth abolishes time and puts one in touch with the real; hence, it is a sacred act. Rituals, or archetypal acts, allow one periodically to deny history and change. Thus, we have myths that confer meaning on life. Ritual allows us to "contact" the reality to which the myth refers. We enact exemplary models in our archetypal acts…A sacred calendar repeats creation or the experiences of the gods. Mary Jo Meadow, "Archetypes and Patriarchy: Eliade and Jung," Journal of Religion and Health 31/3 (Fall 1992), 188. 

My point is not to endorse every detail of Eliade's analysis. He may have been influenced by the concept of maya in Indian philosophy as well as the tragic history of his native Rumania. If your native land has a tragic history, there's a yearning to escape from time. But his analysis highlights the role of ritual and religious calendars, which has direct relevance to Roman Catholicism. 

3. Taking stock

i) An interesting feature of archetypes is that a mediocre movie or story may still have archetypal power. Despite the inept execution, the psychological power of the archetype is independent of the shoddy execution. An otherwise forgettable story or movie may be memorable despite the maladroit execution because it contains an archetypal idea that resonates with the viewer or reader. As Lewis observes:

The pleasure of myth depends hardly at all on such usual narrative attractions as suspense or surprise…Sometimes, even from the first, there is hardly any narrative element…The Hesperides, with their apple-tree and dragon, are already a potent myth, without bringing in Herakles to steal the apples.  

A man who first learns what is to him a great myth through a verbal account which is baldly or vulgarly or cacophonously written, discounts and ignores the bad writing and attends solely to the myth. He hardly minds about the writing. He is glad to have the myth on any terms…The value of myth is not a specifically literary value, or the appreciation of myth a specifically literary experience. He does not approach the words with the expectation or belief that they are good reading matter; they are merely information. their literary merits or faults do not count (for his main purpose) much more than those of a timetable or a cookery book. C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism (Canto 1992), 43-44,46.

ii) A key feature of archetypes is how they operate at a subliminal level. Intellectual converts to Catholicism (and/or Catholic apologists) justify Catholicism by appeal to dry, rational arguments. And they may genuinely believe that's what drew them to Catholicism. But Catholicism encodes many archetypes, and archetypes have the ability to bypass the conscious mind. You can be under the influence by an archetype without being cognizant of how much that sways your impressions. In that regard, the compelling power of archetypes is seductive and subversive, by disarming the critical faculty. You may think the primary appeal of Catholicism is grounded in reason and evidence while, in reality, Catholic archetypes slip behind the filter to manipulate the uncensored mind. 

iii) That doesn't mean archetypes are automatically malign. But it's necessary to distinguish between factual and fictional archetypes. For instance, polytheism has great archetypal power because heathen gods exemplify archetypes. They personify natural forces (e.g. sun gods, moon goddesses, storm gods, volcanoes, the dawn [Aurora], cycles (the seasons, death), and things (e.g. wood nymphs, water nymphs, mountains, fire, animals)–as well as human social roles (sex/love goddesses, war gods, father gods, mother goddesses). 

An archetype may be true to life, but false when that's misappropriated to lend specious credit to a false religion. You can be brainwashed by archetypes. Drugged by archetypes if you fail to recognize how it conditions your impressions. Once again, archetypes can be natural goods. The danger comes if you allow yourself to be controlled by the mythos. 

iv) Apropos (iii), in this respect, the Catholic faith enjoys a competitive advantage over the Protestant faith. It has a richer and more immediate archetypal appeal than the Protestant faith. The archetypal dimension of the Protestant faith is deliberately spare compared to Catholicism. Protestants like Zwingli, Calvin, and the Puritans demythologize Catholicism. Sometime this was taken to a reactionary extreme. 

In the Protestant faith, some of the archetypal dimension is deferred to the afterlife and the world to come. To that extent, the archetypal power of the Protestant faith is more eschatological. 

4. Biblical archetypes

Some of the archetypal power of Catholicism lies in the fact that it incorporates many biblical symbols and motifs. Bible history is archetypal. Cf. L. Ryken, J. Wilhoit, & T. Longman, eds. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. 

But over and above all that are Catholic archetypes. Some of these overlap with Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. 

5. Motherhood

The cult of Mary makes Catholicism a woman-centered faith. It transposes religion to a feminine key. Mary becomes the paradigmatic mother. The universal mother. And that, of course, triggers profound emotional associations with human motherhood generally. 

It stands to reason that this makes Catholicism especially appealing to women. They identify with Mary the way pagan women relate to a patron goddess. 

However, the maternity of Mary has a twist because she's a sexless mother. In that respect, she might seem harder to relate to than a normal mother. But perhaps that, too, is appealing to many women. Consider how many mothers divorce their husbands but claim custody of the children. They'd rather be mothers than wives. They'd rather be able to circumvent procreation with a man. Have kids but cut men out of the equation. 

6. Fatherhood

In addition to the dominant Marian mother figure is the father figure of the priest. Indeed, he's explicitly a father figure. That's his title. And that extends right up to the pope, who's the "Holy Father". The very word "pope" means "father".

The paternal side might seem to complement the maternal side, making Catholicism equally appealing to men, but there's a twist: just as Mary is a sexless mother, the priest is a sexless father. Admittedly, many priests are sexually activity, but in religious symbolism what's paramount is what the priest represents rather than what he is. 

Perhaps that, too, is appealing to women. A sexless father confessor is safe for women to be around–the way a eunuch is safe for women to be around.  

Although they wouldn't admit it, I suspect many Catholic laymen don't take a priest seriously as a role-model of masculinity. There's a gentleman's agreement where they tolerate celibate priests on condition that laymen not only have marital sex, but premarital and extramarital sex, then confess it. And if it turns out that the priest has a mistress, that may actually raise the layman's respect for the priest. He's a real man after all.

7. Priestcraft

Through sacramental alchemy, a priest can change bead and wine into different substances. Likewise, he causes natural water to have a supernatural effect. In that regard, the priest reprises the role of a wizard. Wizards are archetypal figures. The mythos of magic is transcultural. 

8. Holy orders

Apropos (7), consistent with the wizard paradigm, apostolic succession can't have any broken links. Before he dies, a wizard transfers his mojo to his apprentice. If he dies before he transfers his mojo to a successor, then his mojo dies with him. Transmission is wizard-to-wizard. 

9. Baptism

Apropos (7), the symbolism of baptism isn't straightforward. Water is an open-textured metaphor because water has so many varied functions and connotations in human experience. 

Catholicism settles on the connotation of birth/spiritual rebirth. And that taps into deep archetypical associations. 

10. Eucharist

i) In evangelical theology, the eucharist is a symbol of the crucifixion. An emblem of Christ's redemptive death. 

ii) But in Catholicism, the eucharist is an edible deity. That's a different paradigm. That's like Indian braves who consume bear meat, not just for food or primarily for food, but to absorb the spirit of the bear.  You become one with what you eat. Indeed, you become what you eat. That's a primitive pagan archetype. Catholic sacramentalism operates on the same principle as sympathetic magic. Like sticking a needle in a voodoo doll. 

11. Exorcism

Apropos (7), the priest uses white magic to drive out black magic. Like the consecration of the communion elements, the priest uses magic incantations to change the status quo. The power of word magic. 

12. Sign of the cross

In Catholic piety, laymen can wield a little bit of magic through this gesture, to ward off evil spirits. This gives laymen a piece of the action as junior wizards. 

13. Harrowing of hell

The descent into hell and harrowing of hell have transparent roots in pagan stories about the netherworld. That includes trips by the living to the realm of the dead to rescue a departed loved one. That even gave rise to Orphic cults. This taps into a deep desire to make contact with the dearly departed or assist them. 

14. Cult of the dead

This parallels (13). In a sense, recapitulating the descent into hell and harrowing of hell by Christ. It democratizes the harrowing of hell. 

15. Relics

In addition to the general notion of magical objects is the further notion of the mojo of a saint clings to his mortal remains. 

16. Church calendar

Human experience is cyclical on multiple levels, and the church calendar piggybacks on the periodicity of human experience. 

17. Cathedral

i) In addition to artistic religious symbolism that's engineered into Gothic architecture, which a medieval art historian can appreciate, Cathedrals encode a natural archetypal symbolism that evokes a response in viewers with no religious background at all. This involves the play of light and dark. Compare it to the effect of sunny glen in the forest. Or a cave, where the ceiling is underlie by daylight; or viewing light outside the cave from the darkened interior, as you face the entrance. The generally dim interior of a Gothic cathedral, offset by stain-glass windows, has a similar effect. The dark background provides a necessary point of contrast. 

ii) In addition, candlelight and sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows represent light in motion. Electrical lighting is static. A steady beam. That's good for working, but hard on the eyes.

By contrast, natural lighting is gentler on the eyes. Moreover, natural light is "living" light in the sense that it changes. That's immediately observable in the case of flickering candlelight. In the case of stained-glass, there's a slow-motion effect as the light gradually but continually undergoes change, shifting with the motion of the sun from dawn to dusk.