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Christianity’s Collective Shadow: What Are We Suppressing?

Christianity’s Collective Shadow: What Are We Suppressing?

Last updated on: January 19, 2025 at 8:04 pm by Dr. Mike Simmons

Christianity’s Collective Shadow: What Are We Suppressing? 2025-01-19T20:04:44-08:00 Dr. Mike Simmons

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AI generated Image of the collective shadow

Photo: AI generated via ChatGPT depicting Christianity’s Collective Shadow

As a 1 on 1 Shadow Work Coach It’s important that my clients know that “shadow” is not simply a personal paradigm, but a communal one as well. This is known as the Collective Shadow. What do I mean by the collective shadow? To unpack this, let me refresh you on the concept of the shadow itself.

Check out my YouTube channel video addressing the Collective Shadow in Christianity.

What Is the Shadow?

The shadow, as Carl Jung defined it, encompasses everything we hide, repress, or deny about ourselves. It includes parts of our personality that we exile in order to meet societal, familial, or cultural expectations—especially during the formative years of life. These unlived aspects don’t disappear; they reside in the unconscious, waiting to be acknowledged and integrated.

Shadow is not good or bad; it just is.
It is not the false self, but the hidden self.
It is functional like an organ in the body. We need a shadow!
We can’t eliminate it. We can only relate to it.

In the second half of life, much of our inner work involves engaging with and integrating these hidden aspects of ourselves.

The Collective Shadow

The collective shadow operates on a larger, societal scale. It includes the traits, behaviors, and identities a group or culture deems unacceptable or unworthy. These qualities are repressed collectively and projected outward, often onto marginalized groups or individuals.

In the context of Western culture, and particularly Christianity, the collective shadow is shaped by historical, theological, and cultural forces. Even if you’ve never attended church, the influence of Christianity on Western society has likely shaped your worldview, including what is deemed “good” or “evil.” Here is an excellent article detailing examples of collective shadow and the role community plays in support and healing: Collective Shadow Projection and the Power of Mutual Aid.

Christianity’s One-Sided Image of God

This brings us to a central theme in the collective shadow of Christianity: its focus on light to the exclusion of darkness. David Steindl-Rast’s quote captures this dynamic beautifully:

“In its enthusiasm for the divine light, Christian theology has not always done justice to the divine darkness. Abstract speculation can create an image of God that is foreign to the human heart—a God that is totally purged of anything we call dark. Then we try to live up to the standards of a God that is purely light and cannot handle the darkness within.”

Christianity’s emphasis on purity, perfection, and light often leads to a denial of darker, more complex aspects of the human experience. This denial doesn’t make the darkness disappear; it suppresses it, pushing it into the collective shadow.

The Psychological Cost of Suppression

When we strive to emulate an idealized God who is pure light, we mirror this one-sidedness in ourselves. We suppress our own darkness, bypassing our pain, trauma, and shadow qualities. This suppression can lead to profound psychological harm, disconnecting us from our intuition, emotions, and lived experiences.

Worse still, what we suppress in ourselves, we often project onto others. In the collective shadow of Christianity, this projection has historically played out in the exclusion and rejection of certain groups: People of color, queer and transgender individuals, and others who embody aspects of the shadow the collective unconsciously refuses to confront.

Below are a few resources for those who identify with collectively shadowed groups:

Moving Toward Wholeness

So, how do we navigate this imbalance? One path forward lies in moving beyond a one-sided image of the divine. Instead of clinging to an abstract god-image of pure light (or pure darkness), risk embracing a relationship with the divine that guides you into your hidden life. This may look like embracing symbols and divine images that feel both intriguing and a little scary. One of my previous articles, In Need of a New Christ Image, provides an example of my personal experience with this.

Reflection Exercise

Here’s an invitation for your own inner work:

Take some time to journal about your current/most present (positive or negative) image of the divine.
Consider: Is your god image one-sided? Does it lean solely toward light, perfection, and goodness? Or perhaps it has swung to the other extreme, focusing only on darkness, suffering, or despair?
Reflect on how this image aligns with your lived experiences.

Remember, the goal isn’t to reject one side in favor of the other, but to hold both in tension, acknowledging the fullness of life.

Final Thoughts

The collective shadow of Christianity reminds us of the dangers of one-sidedness—whether in theology, culture, or personal identity. By exploring the shadow, we open ourselves to greater wholeness, compassion, and authenticity.

What does your shadow have to teach you about the divine? Let this question guide your reflections in the days to come.

Next Steps

Thank you to my clients who make the Transgressive Spirituality Column possible! Interested 1:1 Shadow Work, schedule a free 20-minute discovery call today. Was this helpful or meaningful for you? Consider buying me a coffee!

About Dr. Michael Simmons

Michael is a shadow work facilitator, spiritual director, teacher, writer, and psycho-spiritual enthusiast. He holds a Doctorate (DLd) from Portland Seminary, and sits on the board of Deep Water Ministry and the Companioning Center in Newberg, Oregon. Michael offers sacred space for people from various faith and non-faith traditions, as well as all LGBTQIA+ individuals, to explore and integrate their inner landscape. Michael writes with an intent to introduce readers to their hidden depths, and provide tools, language, and practices for how to befriend and integrate what they find. You can read more about the author here.

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