Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The psychoanalytic study of religion has until now been dominated by a Freudian perspective that views the religious experience as a one-way transference, where the devotee projects his instinctually based childhood wishes, fears, and behaviors onto a religious construct. In this path-breaking book, James W. Jones, a clinical psychologist and professor of religion, challenges this view. Building on more recent theories in which the self is construed as a matrix of internalized relationships, he investigates ways in which religious beliefs, practices, and experiences reflect the structure of the relational self.
Drawing on both theory and practice, Jones not only reviews the relevant psychoanalytic literature but also illustrates his thesis with an in-depth discussion of four clinical cases. He examines models of transference since Freud by Fairbairn, Kohut, Gill, and Roland, and he describes previous applications of psychoanalysis to religion by Rizzuto, Winnicott, and Kohut. He concludes by discussing the nature of religion, bringing such theologians, philosophers, and psychoanalysts as Otto, Bollas, Tillich, and Buber into a multi-disciplinary dialogue.
The book will give the scholar and student of religious studies the latest psychoanalytic theories and demonstrate their relevance for religious studies. It will also help the clinician grasp the role of religion in human life.
Synopsis
In this pathbreaking book, a professor of religion who is also a clinical psychologist challenges Freud's view of religion as one-way transference. Using examples from clinical cases, James W. Jones argues instead that religious experiences, doctrines, and practices reflect the internalized interpersonal patterns that constitute our sense of ourselves. He concludes by discussing the nature of religion, bringing such theologians, philosophers, and psychoanalysts as Otto, Bollas, Tillich, and Buber into a multi-disciplinary dialogue. "Provocative."-Choice " A] useful overview of the present state of the psychoanalytic understanding of religious experience."-W. W. Meissner, S. J., M.D., Theological Studies "A fine survey of the contemporary literature on religion and object relations theory and an original contribution to that literature."-Diane Jonte-Pace, Religious Studies Review "A major contribution. Jones has a rare and welcome gift for surveying a complex argument and grasping the heart of it. His inclusion of case studies distinguishes his book from other works in the genre."-John McDargh "Object relations theory is on the cutting edge of work in psychoanalysis and religion. Jones presents it lucidly with a minimum of jargon. He relates it to basic religious issues in a fresh and knowledgeable way."-Malcolm Diamond, Professor of Religion