Is there a Christian way to interpret dreams? And why is spiritual theology so silent on an issue which is focused on a great deal in phenomena such as the New Age and a number of non-institutional religious practices? The answer to the first question is positive and it is given by Gerard Condon who was spiritual director of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome for some years. Condon completed a PhD on Jung’s work at the Pontifical Gregorian University and is currently diocesan religious education advisor and Professor of Spirituality at St. Patrick College, Thurles. Condon has written a Christian guide to interpreting dreams for Italian Padua-based publishing house Edizioni Messaggero. The guide is entitled The Power of Dreams: A Christian Guide and claims that the interpretation of dreams is relevant to Christian life and spiritual orientation. It puts forward a very interesting theory: that the Jungian method of active imagination has an important precedent in Christian history; it recalls the meditation technique proposed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises. A bold but very interesting combination. According to Condon it is good to bring the result of our meditations on dreams to the attention of our spiritual leader.This way the process goes beyond personal meditation and the public and collective implications of the oneiric image are analysed. An external stimulus is necessary because one foundation of Christian spiritual orientation is that no one is a good judge of their own experiences. Full Story: Gerard Condon publishes guide on Christian method of interpreting dreams Source: Vatican Insider
