Freud And Freudians On Religion

In his introduction, Donald Capps points out that psychoanalysis resembles religions in the way in which its founding documents (Freud's own writings) have been closely read, have evoked interpretive battles, and have been reassessed and reapplied in response to changing social and cultural circumstances. He notes that just as Freud's writings on religion focus on the biblical text, the majority of the authors included here do likewise, showing how the Bible may be read psychoanalytically. Both Freud and his successors, says Capps, also reflect the high value that the Christian culture of the West has placed on painting and sculpture, revealing the importance of perception and imagination to the psychoanalytic study of religion. Capps highlights the ways in which all the Freudians work intertextually with Freud's writings, with the writings of other authors included in the book, and with other writings of their own.

This book presents selections from Freud's writings on religion and from the work of five more recent contributors to the psychoanalytic study of religion: David Bakan, Erik H. Erikson, Heinz Kohut, Julia Kristeva, and D.W. Winnicott. It is the first collection of texts in the psychology of religion that is oriented more toward religious studies than toward the study of psychology.

In his introduction, Donald Capps points out that psychoanalysis resembles religions in the way in which its founding documents (Freud's own writings) have been closely read, have evoked interpretive battles, and have been reassessed and reapplied in response to changing social and cultural circumstances. He notes that just as Freud's writings on religion focus on the biblical text, the majority of the authors included here do likewise, showing how the Bible may be read psychoanalytically. Both Freud and his successors, says Capps, also reflect the high value that the Christian culture of the West has placed on painting and sculpture, revealing the importance of perception and imagination to the psychoanalytic study of religion. Capps highlights the ways in which all the Freudians work intertextually with Freud's writings, with the writings of other authors included in the book, and with other writings of their own.

Publishers Weekly

In 1927's The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud predicted that the "illusion" of religion had no future and would be abandoned by modern society. But Freud is long dead, may he rest in peace, and religion is still very much around. In Freud and Freudians on Religion: A Reader, Donald Capps of Princeton Theological Seminary pulls together some of Freud's most famous thoughts on religion and also reprints essays by five of the psychoanalyst's intellectual heirs, including Erik Erikson and Julia Kristeva. This is a useful, well-organized collection. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Donald Capps is William Harte Felmeth Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author or editor of many other books, including Men, Religion, and Melancholia, published by Yale University Press.