archetypes enc religion

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ARCHETYPES 457

gion. Since the 1950s George Kubler and other scholars have

warned against the general practice of simply imposing the

historically know n m eaning of contact-period religious arti

facts and art onto the evidence from earlier periods. Kubler

has pointed out that, over the centuries, shifts or even com

plete disjunctions in the meaning of religious symbols may

have occurred. Systematic approaches to patterning in the record may provide methods of testing ethnohistorically pre

sumed meanings thro ugh study o f the distribution and asso

ciation of artifacts and images.

New archaeological discoveries and new approaches to

interpretation are also challenging long-standing opinions on

specific aspects of pre-Co lum bian religious studies. Fo r ex

ample, many scholars studying the religions of the high civi

lizations of Mesoamerica and Peru have begun to d oub t the

utility o f seeking specific identities or referents for individual

deities. Instead, they are analyzing art and iconography for

evidence of concepts and structures in pre-C olumb ian belief

systems. The results have shown that pre-Columbian reli

gions were as laden with sexual symbolism, manifold godheads, an d struc tural complexities as the religions of East

Asia. Archaeological research is also discovering unexpected

aspects of pre-C olumb ian religionsfor example, the im

portance of ancestor worship among the ancient Classic

Maya civilization of Central America (300-900 C e ) and the

shamanistic nature o f the religion of the early Olmec culture

in Mexico (1300-600 b c e ).

Prospects. Beyond the small sample cited here, archae

ology has contributed to the study of religion in virtually

every world region and period. T he archaeology of Japan,

Southwest Asia, Australia, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia,

and other zones has involved extensive excavation and inter

pretation of the material evidence of religious behavior. As

archaeological research broadens in geographical range and

further develops its methodological tools, it will become an

even more impo rtant aspect of the study of religion. I t will

continue to extend the brea dth and depth of scholars search

for variations, connections, structural similarities, and cogni

tive parallels in human religious systems.

Se e Al s o Cities; Prehistoric Religions, article on Old

Europe.

B i b l i o g r a p h y

A good general history of archaeology in the Old W orld is Glyn

E. Daniels A Sh ort H istory o f Archaeology (London, 1981),

and for the New World see Gordon R. Willey and Jeremy

A. Sabloff sA His tory o fAm eric an Archaeology, 2d ed. (Lon

don, 1981). An imp ortant presentation of the new, anthro

pological approaches to archaeology is Lewis R. Binfo rdsA n

Archaeo logica l Perspective (New York, 1972). Recent works

exemplifying the integ ration o f religion into archaeological

approaches to cultural evolution areIdeology, Power, and Pre-

history, edited by Daniel Miller and Christopher Tilley

(Cambridge, 1984), and Relig ion a nd Em pire by Geoffrey W.

Conrad and myself (Cambridge, 1984). F or innovative syn

theses of Paleolithic archaeology an d religion, see Peter J.

Ucko and Andree Rosenfelds Palaeolithic Cave Ar t (New

York, 1967); Andre Leroi-Gourhans The Dawn o fEuropean

A rt(Cambridge, 1982); and Alexander Marshack s The Roots

o f Civilization (New York, 1972). A good regional review of

archaeology in the Nea r East is Charles L. Re dma ns The Rise

o f Civilization (San Francisco, 1978). For later periods and

biblical archaeology see How ard F. VossArchaeology in Bib le

Lands (Chicago, 1977). Kwangzhi Zhangs Shang Civiliza-tion (New Haven, 1980) includes consideration of early Ch i

nese religion, while Zhangs The Archaeology o f An cient

China, 3d ed. (New Haven, Conn., 1977), is the definitive

general synthesis. A review of evidence on the Indus Valley

civilization and Vedic parallels is given in the first chapters

of Aru n BhattacharjeesHis tory o fA nc ient I nd ia (New D elhi,

1979). The Goddesses an d Gods o f Old Europe, 6 50 03 50 0

B .C., by Marija Gim butas (Berkeley, Calif., 1982) is a notable

study of archaeological evidence on early European religion

and an excellent example of the integ ration o f archaeology,

iconographic analysis, and the study of religion. For the

Americas, traditiona l regional syntheses of art, archaeology,

and religions can be found in The Handbook o fM iddle Am er-

ican Indians, 16 vols., edited by Robert Wauchope (Austin,1964-1976), and The Handb ook o f South American Indians,

7 vols., edited by Julian H. Steward (W ashington, 1946

1959). For broad er structural and conceptual approaches to

the natu re of pre-C olum bian religion, see Migue l Leon-

Portillas Time an d Reality in the Thought o f the May a (Bos

ton, 1973); my own Viracocha (Cambridge, Mass., 1981);

and especially Eva H un ts The Transformation o f the H um -

mingbird(Ithaca, N.Y., 1977).

Ar t h u r An d r e w De m a r e s t (1987)

a r c h e t y p e s.

The English word archetype derives

from a Greek word that is prominent in the writings of reli

gious thinkers during the Hellenistic period. In modern

times, the term has been used to refer to fundam ental struc

tures in the hu ma n psyche as well as in religious life. In either

sense, an archetype is a pattern that determines hu ma n expe

rience (whether on a conscious or an unconscious level) and

makes itself felt as something b oth vital and holy.

Th e M e a n i n g o f Ar c h e t y p e . The Greek compound de

rives from the com bined me aning o f two words, tupos and

arche, both of which have double referents. Tupos refers bo th

to a physical blow and to the concrete manifestation o f its

impact. Hence, the seal and its imprint are both tupoi. Fur

ther, the relation between any form and its derivative formsis indicated by this term. For example, the cast that molds

the statue a nd the statue itself are both tupoi, as is the mold

that is placed around a fruit by a grower in order to shape

it as it grows. Internal and invisible molding is also a kind

of tupos as in biological generation: the child is the tupos of

its parent. Finally, as in the English cognate, type, tupos

comes to signify any character or n ature that is shared by nu

merous, related phenomena with the result that they appear

to have been cast from the same mold: for example, the euca

lyptus is a type of tree.

E N C Y C L O P E D I A OF R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N


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458 ARCHETYPES

The nominal prefix archi refers to what is first or origi

nal, both in a temporal and in an ontological sense. As such,

it may indicate equally the heavenly powers that govern the

cosmos, the ruler o f a realm, or the vital organs tha t empower

life in the body.

Together, these two Greek words make up to

archetupon, or the archetype, a term that was not so commonly used as either of its compon ents bu t tha t does appear

with some frequency in the rather esoteric writings o f certain

Hellenistic religious philosophers. Already in De opificio

mundi (1.69), the Jewish theologian Philo Judaeus refers to

the archetype as the imago dei (god-image) residing in and

molding humanity in the likeness of God.

Later, Irenaeus uses the term when, in his lengthy trea

tise attacking the so-called Christian heretics (Against Here-

sies 2.7.5), he recounts a Valentinian version of the cosmogo

ny. According to the Valen tinians, a group o f gnostic

Christians, the world was not created by Go d o ut o f nothing,

but rather it was the fabrication of a demiurge, who copied

directly or indirectly (depending on the version) an archetyp

al world (the Pleroma) that existed outside himself. In this

view, the Dem iurge creates in the m anner of a mechanic who

builds a robot that simulates, but does not replicate, a living

model.

A third use ofto archetupon during the H ellenistic peri

od is found in the writings of the Platonic mystic Plotinus.

He intuited a divine realm of which the creation was a mere

reflection. Plotinus reminds his reader to observe the regular

ity and order exhibited by the natural world. This harmoni

ous state o f affairs, he claims, depends on a higher reality for

its laws of being. Th e pheno meno logical realm does no t truly

exist, according to Plotinus, but appears at the boundaries

between true being, that is, the One, and the void external

to it. Plotinuss cosmogony thus presents a third use of the

imagery associated with the term archetype. At work here is

neither Philos idea of an inner force (inspiration) nor the

Valentinian conc ept o f the craftsman basing his creation on

a model (imitation), bu t rather the m etaphor of reflection

that depicts an emptiness upon which is cast as if upon a

mirror the form o f a divine bu t transcende nt reality.

For all three philosophers, the word archetupon is used

to depict a cosmogonic principle. Co mm on to all three belief

systems is the conviction tha t the creation of the cosmos, in

cluding the creation o f man, depends on the preexistence of

a transcendental reality.

During the twentieth century, the word archetype has

been rehabilitated by the historian of religions Mircea Eliade

and the depth psychologist C. G. Jung. Eliade, in his study

of the religions of humankind , uses the term to nam e the sa

cred paradigms that are expressed in myth and articulated in

ritual. For Jung, the concept of the archetype can also be ap

plied to the dynamic structures of the unconscious that de

termine individual patterns of experience and behavior.

El i a d e s Un d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e Ar c h e t y p e s . In his

preface to the 1959 edition ofCosmos a nd History, Eliade ex

plains that, for him, the terms exemplary model, paradigm,

and archetype are synonymous. For the m ember of tribal and

traditio nal cultures, the archetypes provide the m odels o f his

institutions and the norm s of his various categories o f behav

ior. They constitute a sacred reality that was revealed to hu

ma nkind at the beginning of time. Consequently, the arche

typal patterns are regarded as having a supernatural ortranscendent origin.

The sacred and the profane. These observations pro

vide the basis for Eliades description of the way in which a

religious person distinguishes two separate mod es o f being

in the world: the sacred and the profane. The m ember o f a

tribal or traditional society may be called homo religiosus

(religious human) precisely because he or she perceives

both a transcend ent model (or archetype) and a mundane re

ality tha t is capable of being mo lded to correspo nd to the

transcendent model. Furthermore, he or she experiences the

transcendent model as holy, that is, as manifesting absolute

power and value. In fact, it is the sacred quality of the arche

type that compels him to orient his life around it. Finally,the sacred is recognized as such because it appears to humans

with in the profane setting o f everyday events. This is the

hierophany (appearance of the sacred), that is, when the

supernatural makes itself felt in all its numinosity in contrast

to the natural order.

The hierophany. The appearance of the sacred may

take on any form. I t may be perceptib le by way of the senses:

God in the form of a white buffalo or in the magnificence

of a roaring waterfall. Th e sacred may appear to humans by

way of a dream, as in Jacobs dream of the angels of the Lo rd

descending and ascending upon the ladder between heaven

and earth (Gn. 28:12). O r the hierophan y may be envisioned

by way of the imagination, as, for example, the visions of

Mu li ammad, Black Elk, and Teresa ofAvila. The sacred real

ity makes itself kno wn to the consciousness o f hum ans by

whatever means are available to it.

Orientation. The consequence of an encounter with

the sacred, states Eliade, is the desire to remain in relation

to it, to orient ones life around it in order to be filled contin

ually with the sense of being and meaning th at it evokes. In

this sense, the hierophany creates a new order of things. No

longer do space and time make up a homogeneous continu

um; one moment, or one place, has become touched by the

sacred, and from that time on, it will provide a means of con

necting the two realms, a center that mediates sacred andprofane experience.

This connection may be strengthened in many ways.

Jacob set up an altar in the place where he had the dream.

Religious people may b uild their hom es, villages, or cities on

a sacred site. They may practice a way o f life revealed to th em

by means of a hierophany. Any action may become sacred

if it is enacted in imitation of the way the gods have acted.

H um an life itself becomes assimilated to the sacred paradigm

and becomes sanctified insofar as it shares in the numinous

quality of the timeless archetype.



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ARCHETYPES 459

A mod ern example of an orientation governed by an ar

chetype is the ritual Eucharist. In the Mass, the Christian re

peats a series of actions that were performed in illo tempore,

that is, for the Christian, in the beginning of a new age, at

a time when God in the person of Christ still walked the

earth. By reenacting the last supper, the Christian re-creates

that sacred time and shares in its sanctity.The spirituality that is inheren t in this form of religion

is not otherworldly. The people do not seek to escape this

world for another (celestial or unknown) world. Instead,

their actions are directed at making profane existence over

into a replica of the archetypal world that has been revealed

to them. They seek to realize paradise on earth. For homo re-

ligiosus, the limits inherent in temporal existence (decay, im

permanence, and death) are transcended by imitating and in

carnating the eternal patterns. In this way, they abolish time.

Guided by the archetype, they experience the greatest free

dom of their nature: they become like one o f the gods.

Value o f the history of religions. Mode rn humans may

regard themselves as free precisely because they no longer

seek to emulate a divine paradigm and see themselves, in

stead, as an unconditione d agent of history (unb ound to ex

ternal models). T his is, o f course, the inheritance of the En

lightenment, according to which progress is possible only

after detachm ent from the so-called superstitions of the past

in order to follow the dictates o f a pure reason. In Eliades

view, one may be fully secularized, yet still be the product

of a religious inheritance. Self-understanding requires an ex

amination of that inheritance. Eliade suggests, further, that

knowledge and the understa nding of the religions of ones

ancestors can be a source of meanin g and value.

In addition, the archetypal themes that influenced ourancestors are still alive for modern people, both consciously

and unconsciously. F or instance, th e difficulties o f life can

be regarded as obstacles to fulfillment or, interpreted against

the archetypal theme of initiation, aspects of an ordeal that

may lead to growth and, ultimately, transformation. Exile

from ones hom elan d can be a source of bitterness an d regret,

or, viewed in light of mythical paradigm, the p ath of the hero

such as Parzival, Odysseus, or even Moses, to nam e a few for

whom the journey brought with it rewards unobtainable to

those who remained at home.

Furthermore, in Eliades view, the archetypal patterns

linger on in the unconscious of modern individuals, serving

as themes th at motivate an d guide them. O n a collectivelevel, the search for eternal life seems to underlie much of

the science of modern medicine. O n the individual level, the

person may play out an unconsciously motivated role that

has a recognizable mythical form: the hero, the sacred mar

riage, the wise old woman, the eternal child. The paradigms

appear in numerous constellations with varied force at differ

ent times, even during the life of the individual. Th e insight

that governs homo religiosus, an insight that Eliade elucidates,

is this: There is a difference between the possession of happ i

ness or wealth or power or success, on the one hand, and the

realization in ones own life of an archetypal pattern. For the

religious person, salvation can never be possessed but must

always be embodied.

Th e M e a n i n g o f Ar c h e t y p e i n Ju n g s Ps y c h o l o g y .

Many people have pointed out the difficulty of presenting

a systematic analysis of C. G. Jungs theory of archetypes.

This is perhaps a direct result of his method: As a physician,Jun g discovered the existence of the archetypal reality

through an exam ination o f the subjective experiences of his

patients and himself. Therefore, his theory was constantly

growing in response to his clinical work. His contribution

to a general theory of archetypes lies along the same lines of

Philos thought; like Philo, Jung emphasizes the presence of

divine images within humans, directing and influencing

human development.

At the Eranos seminars in Ascona, Jung and Eliade were

able to discuss and compare their ideas on archetypes. As a

psychologist knowledgeable in the study of religion, Jung

knew an d accepted the concepts of Eliade archetype as

transcendent model, the na ture o f hierophany, and soforth but, in addition, for Jung, the archetype was also ac

tive in determining the inner life of humans in bo th its spiri

tual and material dimensions.

instinct. The archetype is most concretely viewed as in

stinct. Jung states that the archetype

is not m eant to denote an inherited idea, bu t rather an

inherited mode of psychic functioning, corresponding

to the inborn way in which the chick emerges from the

egg, the bird builds its nest, a certain kind of wasp stings

the m otor ganglion o f the caterpillar, and eels find their

way to the Bermudas. In other words, it is a pattern of

behavior. This aspect of the archetype is the biological

one. (q uoted in Jacobi, 1959, p. 43)

However, the instinctual life of the body is unconscious. It

is felt indirectly through drives and compulsions as well as

through images that arise spontaneously in dreams and fanta

sy. It is the imagination that serves to mediate the subjective

experience o f instinct to the ego. Instinct clothes itself in im

ages taken from everyday experience. The archetypal nature

of instinct appears in the numin ous quality of many of these

images, that is, they have the power to compel one abso

lutely.

This is not to suggest that, for Jung, the archetype is

nothing but instinct. On the contrary, it is the transcendent

model that is recognized as having a directive force in thelives of individual persons even on the biological level. In

fact, Jung suggests that instinctand spiritare simply two dif

ferent names for the same reality seen from opposing per

spectives. Wh at looks like instin ct to the outsider is experi

enced as spirit on the subjective level of inne r life. The

appearance of the archetypal pattern at different levels of

human experience in varying forms is described as pro

jec tion.

Projection. Employing Eliades term, Jung might say

that the hierophany, or appearance, o f the archetype may



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460 ARCHITECTURE

take place anywhere, even with in the unco nscious life of the

body. The psychological termprojec tion simply points to the

mode of appearance and not to the ontological status of

the archetype, tha t is, the arche type does n o t exist as a projec

tion, but rather it appears in projection. This form of speech

recalls the metapho r of Plotinus, tha t the One is reflected by

the outer void. In a similar way, we can imagine the archetype reflected (through being projected) on various planes

that support the total human experience: the outer world of

sense experience, the inner w orld o f imagination, an d the un

conscious world o f the body. In other words, the gods may

appear to humans on top of a holy mountain, w ithin a dream

durin g a rite of incub ation, or even as a bodily compulsion.

Still, the transcendent nature of the archetype is not affected.

Here, as in all religious language, we encounter the paradox

of transcendence and immanence, each capable of an inde

pendent existence requiring the existence of the other.

T h e Re l i g i o u s M e a n i n g o fAr c h e t y p e . The existence of

archetypes cannot be proved, but archetypes can be subjec

tively experienced. Jung often explained that, as a psychologist, he could n ot prove the existence of God. Nevertheless,

in Face to Face, his interview with John Freeman for the

BBC, he admits th at he has no nee d o f belief in G od because

he has knowledge based on experience. In Ordeal by Laby-

rinth, a book of conversations with Claude-Henri Rocquet,

Eliade insists on the religious content of the archetype.

If God doesnt exist, then everything is dust and ashes.

If there is no absolute to give m eaning an d value to our

existence, then that means existence has no meaning. I

know there are philosophers who do think precisely

that; but for me, that would be not just pure despair but

also a kin d o f betrayal. Because it isnt true a nd I know

that it isnt true. (Eliade, 1982, p. 67)

Even when employed in the twentieth c entury by a historian

of religions and a psychologist, the ancient term archetype re

tained the religious significance that it had for three religious

philosophers during the first centuries of the common era.

Referring both to the sacred model and to its appearance

within the world o f phenom ena, the archetype is meaningless

in any system of thought that denies the reality of a transcen

dent principle. In other words, the term suggests a view of

creation according to which this world depends for its very

nature on some reality outside itself.

SEE Al s o See also Hierophany; Iconography; Jung, C. G;

Orientation; Transcendence and Immanence.

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The My th o f the Eternal Re-

turn. New York, 1954. A good introdu ction to the role of

archetypes in the religions of traditional cultures.

Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Compa rative Religion. New York, 1958.

Discussion o f archetypal theory thro ughout.

Eliade, Mircea. Ordeal by Labyrinth: Conversations w ith Claude

Hen ri Rocquet. Chicago, 1982. The autobiographical materi

al provides a valuable framework for Eliades theoretical

writings.

Jacobi, Jolande. Complex, Archetype, Symbo l in the Psychology o f

C. G. Jung. Princeton, 1959. The best introduction to Jungs

theory o f archetypes, this small volume provides the reader

with a guide to Ju ngs writings on the to pic as well as to relat

ed material in the works of other analytical psychologists.

New Sources

Henry, James P. Religious Experience, Archetypes, and the

Neurophysiology of Emotions. Zygon 21, no. 1 (1986 ):

47-74.

Laughlin, Charles D., and C. Jason Throop. Imagination and

Reality: O n the Relations between Myth , Consciousness,

and the Quantum Sea. Zygon 36, no. 4 (2001): 709-736.

McCollister, B. Religion: Intrinsic to the Human Psyche? H u -

manist50, no. 1 (1990): 39.

Be v e r l y Mo o n (1987)Revised Bibliography

a r c h i t e c t u r e . [This article presents a thematicoverview o f religious architecture. Mo num ents associated with

prehistoric religious practices are discussed in Megalithic Reli

gion; Paleolithic Religion; andPrehistor ic Religions.]

Architecture may be defined as the art of building, and

consequently religious architecture refers to those buildings

planned to serve religious purposes. These structures can be

either very simple or highly complex. They can take the form

of a circle of upright stones (megaliths) defining a sacred

space or they may spread over acres like the sanctuary at Ang

kor Wat. They can be of any and every material from the

mo unds of earth reared over royal tombs to the reinforced

concrete and glass o f twentieth-century houses of worship.

Yet the practice o f religion does n ot of itself require anarchitectural setting. Sacrifice can be offered to the gods in

the open air on a hilltop; the adherents of Islam can perform

their daily prayers in a railroad car or even in the street; the

Christian Eucharist can be celebrated in a hospital ward.

Nevertheless all the major world religions have buildings es

pecially planned for their use, and these constitute an impor

tant source of knowledge about these faiths. T hey can reveal

what is believed about the nature of the gods; they can pro

vide insight into the character of the communities for which

they were designed and the cultus celebrated therein.

To compreh end and appreciate the significance o f these

buildings it is necessary to classify them, but their variety is

so great that one single method w ould be incomplete. Henc eseveral typologies have to be devised if the subject matter is

to be covered adequately; indeed it is possible to identify at

least four. In the first place, the vocabulary applied to reli

gious buildings can be taken as the basis for the formulation

of a typology. This, however, is by no means exhaustive, and

so it is essential to move on to a second typology derived

from the character or nature ascribed to each building, which

may differ depending upon whether it is regarded as a divine

dwelling, a center o f reference, a mo num ent , or a meeting

house. A third typology may be presented by analyzing the


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