Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion (Hardcover)

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. 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. Publisher ‎Yale University Press; Revised ed. edition (July 28 1993) Language ‎English Paperback ‎160 pages ISBN-10: ‎0300057849 ISBN-13: ‎9780300057843