Arthur’s talk is called “The Many Levels of Jesus as a Healer”
Jesus was the greatest healer in the Judeo-Christian tradition, whose healings were performed in a mythical setting and described in a mythical text. The stories yield meanings at several levels, which are often as important today as when the stories were first told.
At one level, they are about compassion and love, where the “healer” acting out of such motivations is both developing his/her own spirituality, as well as contributing to social harmony within the community.
At a second level, the healings fit within early Christian theology and thus further the Christian myth. In particular, the stories of healings fit into Jewish and Christian apocalyptic/eschatological mythology whereby the healings, exorcisms, feedings of the multitudes, etc., by Jesus exhibit characteristics of the promised Kingdom of God (e.g., no hunger or disease), meaning that the Kingdom is beginning to appear (called “realized eschatology”).
A third level is that of spiritual healing where the figure of Jesus and his teachings and acts involve concepts of depth psychology that can stimulate individuation and lead to wholeness. In Jesus’s healings, the sick do much of the healing themselves, through faith in what the figure of Jesus represents.
About Arthur
Arthur George is a mythologist, cultural historian, blogger, and winemaker; formerly he was an international lawyer. He has written the award-winning The Mythology of Eden (2014) about the mythology of the biblical Eden story, and before that the leading and award-winning history of St. Petersburg, Russia, entitled St. Petersburg: the First Three Centuries. More recently he has written the peer-reviewed The Mythology of America’s Seasonal Holidays (2021) and The Mythology of Wine. (2021) He has a mythology blog, frequently speaks at scholarly conferences, institutes, JCF Roundtables, and other audiences on mythological topics, and authors articles on the same. You can find his blog and connect with him at www.mythologymatters.wordpress.com.
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