L’inconscient au paradis: Comment les catholiques ont reçu la psychoanalyse (1920–1965) (review)

Abstract

L'inconscient au paradis: Comment les catholiques ont recu la psychoanalyse (1920-1965). By Agnes Desmazieres. (Paris: Editions Payot & Rivages. 2011. Pp. 270. euro21,50 paperback. ISBN 978-2-228-90666-1.) In this significant work Agnes Desmazieres traces the ways in which some of the leading mid-twentieth century Catholic European intellectuals and professionals struggled to find a place in Catholic thought for the emerging psychological constructs about the unconscious. Written in the style of a European monograph, the author guides the reader through a terrain of cultural clashes as Catholic scholars encountered theories of the unconscious, most notably expressed by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis and Carl Jung's depth psychology. Desmaizieres's frequent use of subheadings proves invaluable as she presents a series of controversies that illuminate the seeking of Catholics proponents for a foothold for the unconscious. The book's historical overview offers a who's who of mid-twentieth-century Catholic European intellectuals. Desmazieres, for example, mentions the contributions by such clerical leaders as Louis Beirnaert (French Jesuit psychoanalyst), Bruno de Jesus Marie (French Carmelite psychoanalyst/theologian), Agostino Gemelli (Italian Franciscan psychologist), Andre Godin (Belgian Jesuit psychoanalyst), Gregoire Lemercier (Benedictine abbot), Marc Oraison (priest/physician/theologian), Albert Pie (French Dominican psychologist/theologian), and Victor White (British Dominican theologian). Desmazieres also mentions the influence of lay Catholic thinkers such as Rudolf Allers (Austrian philosopher), Marcy Choisy (French novelist and psychoanalyst), Roland Dalbiez (French philosopher), Joseph Nuttin (Belgian psychologist), and Anna A.A.Terruwe (Dutch psychiatrist). In addition, important North American contributions to the discussion by Leo Bartemeier (American psychoanalyst), Noel Mailloux (French Canadian Dominican, psychoanalyst), and Gregory Zilboorg (Russian American psychoanalyst) are referenced. For the purposes of revealing the Church's ambivalence toward psychoanalysis, Desmazieres discusses the influence of Gemelli in various parts of her text. The founder of Sacred Heart University in Milan, Gemelli wielded considerable influence with Popes Pius XI and Pius XII. His Thomistic training made him suspicions of both the scientism of Italian medical materialism and the reductionism of Freud's theories. …