A Jungian Analysis of the Chinese Kitchen God Image

This article studies the impact of Kitchen God beliefs and worship on Chinese mentality and behavior, both consciously and unconsciously. At the conscious level, the evolution of the Kitchen God beliefs has gone through four stages; Nature God, Animal God, Half-animal/Half human God, and finally Human God. The evolution of the Kitchen God in China displays the features of a couple, aging and secularization. The experience of “returning to the sacred origin” can be obtained through Kitchen God worship by burning an old paper image of the Kitchen God and pasting of a new one of him beside the kitchen stove year after year during the Kitchen God festival. The secret to continuity of life lies in repetition. The image of the Kitchen God as an important graphic symbol is formed by a constellation of images; good pot and evil pot, two dragons playing with a bead, rooster and dog, the psychological archetypes as yin and yang, unity of opposites, transformation and integration. This ritual serves as a bridge between Chinese people and their “ancestors,” “the other realm” (nirvana), and “the Self.” On an unconscious level, the psychological significance of Kitchen God beliefs is analyzed through “the family hexagram.” The collective unconscious for the Chinese can be revealed by a continuous pattern of concentric circles structure, that is, “heaven and earth—the Kitchen God—ancestors—parents—offspring.” Through a clinical case using Sandplay Therapy, this article will show that Kitchen God imagery unconsciously shows the constellation of “family.” Family is the place of belonging and home for Chinese people, helping the client return to his inner source and gain strength through acceptance and transformation. The implication of Kitchen God beliefs for today’s Chinese society is to return to the most primitive “Tao,” which presents a possible cure for many kinds of psychological problems we are facing. It suggests that researchers pay attention to the psychological phenomenon of clients’ using the Kitchen God image to express their cultural feelings toward family in psychological practice.

Lord of the Storm and Oracular Decisions: Competing Construals of Storm God Imagery in Hosea 6:1–6

The poetry of Hosea employs and engages the religious imagery from the Baʿlu cult in its construal of Israel’s deity, YHWH, as a storm god. The present article focuses on the varied uses of storm god imagery in Hos 6:1–6 and offers a new explanation for the abstruse imagery of verse 5 and for the polemical dynamics at play within 6:1–6. In particular, it treats the final colon of Hos 6:5, which has defied explanation by interpreters: wmšpṭy kʾwr yṣʾ.

A Short Note on Daniel 5 and the “Finger of God” Imagery in Luke 11:20

The “finger of God” allusion in Luke 11:20 is usually recognized to draw from explicit ot occurrences of the phrase, particularly those in Exod 8:15 mt and Deut 9:10. While not denying the influence of those passages, this article aims to explore and elucidate the unique, but oft-neglected contribution of Dan 5 to Luke 11 by way of “finger of God” imagery.