Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 1.djvu/65

 A PSYCHO-ANALYTIC STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN CREED 57 "Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary"

Belief in the Virgin Mother has its roots in the CEdipus Com- plex. The Virgin Mary is an especially attractive object of worship because she satisfies an unconscious longing of the infant boy to supplant the father or to think him away. Since to the child's mind absence means death, the way is then open to take the father's place in relation to the beloved mother.

In almost every religion there are traces of man's tendency to transfer to his deities some part of the emotion normally felt towards the mother, the lover, and the wife. The belief in the goddess called Mother Earth is a spontaneous symbolic production of the human mind at one stage of its development. Some of the most striking examples have been gathered together by Prof. A. Dieterich. In his book entitled "Mutter Erde" he explains the grief and horror felt by believers in the earth goddess when the dead were deprived of burial; for this meant their inability to return to the Mother who could give them re-birth. A happy life after death seemed to depend on their entering into the womb of the earth in order that they might be born again. The aim of the mystery religions becomes clear in the light of this belief in a mother-goddess. In order to be sure of immortality, the initiates were symbolically re-born in the sacrament in order that death might have no further power over them. This is well illustrated by the religion best known to ourselves. Christianity had to become a mystery religion in order to satisfy this keen desire for sacramental regeneration, and thereby conquer the Mithraic and other rival cults.

The first Christians inherited from Judaism the prophetic horror of admitting a feminine element into the conception of God. But as soon as Christianity spread among Greeks and Romans, the desire for a Mother Goddess had to be satisfied in creed and rite. The Church itself was regarded as the Bride of Christ and the Mother of the faithful. The Fathers speak of "Domina Mater Ecclesia". Some even said that Earth was the first Adam's mother just as Mary was the second Adam's mother. And the "Blessed Virgin" proved to be the most popular Christian Mother imago. Though Mary was already betrothed to Joseph, the Holy Ghost did not hesitate to overshadow her in order to beget Jesus. This divine action shows a disregard for human and legal scruples that