Contemporary psychoanalysis and religion: transference and transcendence

Abstract

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