Freud and Religion
Advancing the Dialogue

Offers a revised psychoanalytic theory of religion by sifting through the history of psychoanalytic models in dialogue with their multidisciplinary critiques.

William B. Parsons (Author)

9781108429269, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 May 2021

296 pages
15.5 x 23.5 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

We live in an era that often described as 'therapeutic.' Our culture is suffused with unconscious fantasies and psychoanalytic ways of thinking about self, other, and society. Aspects of the Freudian cultural universe have also had an impact on how we think about religion. In this volume, William Parsons explores the relationship between religion and psychoanalysis through multiple, linked investigations. Why did Freud write about religion and what did he say? What were the multiple critiques levelled at his work? What were the post-Freudian psychoanalytic advances? How can we still apply psychoanalytic ideas going forward? In answering these and related questions, Parsons distinguishes between classic-reductive, adaptive, and transformational psychoanalytic models. He also argues that the psychoanalytic theory of religion needs to integrate reflexive, dialogical, and inclusive elements as part of its toolkit. Offering illustrations and applications of such revisions, Parsons creates new capacities for thinking psychologically and critically about religion.

1. Why Freud wrote on Religion
2. Totem and taboo: the origin of religion
3. Freud's Moses: the advent of monotheism
4. Future of an illusion: the secular cure of souls
5. Civilization and its discontents: the Unbehagen of religion
6. Freud and eastern religions
7. Psychoanalysis and religion beyond Freud
8. Revisions and applications
Conclusion: Psychoanalytic spirituality.

Subject Areas: Psychoanalytical theory [Freudian psychology JMAF], Psychological theory & schools of thought [JMA], History of religion [HRAX], Philosophy of religion [HRAB]