The Seba library treats Abel in 7 passages, across 4 authors (including Jung, Carl Gustav, Sanford, John A., Hoeller, Stephan A.).
if the original father Adam is a copy of the Creator, his son Cain is certainly a copy of God’s son Satan, and this gives us good reason for supposing that God’s favourite, Abel, must also have his correspondence in a ‘supracelestial place.’
Jung argues that the symmetry of cosmic dualism demands a heavenly archetype for Abel, establishing him as the luminous counterpart to Satan’s earthly copy Cain.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
Abel is essentially the son, and sacrifices an animal; Abraham is essentially the father—indeed, the ‘tribal father’—and therefore on a higher level. He does not offer a choice possession merely, but is ready to sacrifice the best and dearest thing he has—his only son.
Jung reads Abel’s lamb-sacrifice as the foundational, filial-level rung of a typological sequence of Old Testament offerings that prefigure and culminate in the Christian sacrifice.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
Cain and Abel are incompatible. Cain, who represents evil, kills Abel, who stands for good. God accepts sacrifices of Abel instead of Cain, whom He banishes but does not kill; this throws a glaring light upon the conflict of the opposites, since Cain still seems to be necessary.
Sanford interprets the Cain-Abel story as a psychological drama of unresolved opposites in which the necessity of Cain’s survival illuminates the irreducibility of evil within the divine order.
, Dreams: Gods Forgotten Language, 1968thesis
Hesse utilizes several Gnostic themes, among them most prominently a Gnostic exegesis of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, which makes Cain appear in a light more favorable than Abel.
Hoeller notes that Hesse’s Gnostic-inflected reading, closely aligned with Jung’s own Gnostic interests, rehabilitates Cain and thereby destabilises Abel’s conventional status as the unambiguous moral positive.
, The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead, 1982supporting
brothers, hostile, motif of, see Abel; Cain; fratricide
The index entry in ‘Answer to Job’ formalises Abel as a sub-entry under the archetypally significant motif of hostile brothers and fratricide, embedding him within Jung’s broader symbolic taxonomy.
, Answer to Job, 1952supporting
Abel, 61, 65
Edinger’s index registers Abel as a recurring reference in his elucidation of Jung’s ‘Answer to Job,’ connecting Abel to Adam and the practice of analysis at designated page discussions.
, Transformation of the God-Image: An Elucidation of Jung’s Answer to Job, 1992supporting
Abel, 388
The Mysterium Coniunctionis index lists Abel as a discrete alchemical or biblical reference point, indicating that the figure carries marginal but real presence in Jung’s exploration of the separation and synthesis of psychic opposites.
, Mysterium Coniunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, 1955aside