Claude Barbre

THE FUNDAMENTALIST MINDSET: PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION, VIOLENCE, AND HISTORY. Edited by Charles B. Strozier, David M. Terman, and James W. Jones, with Katharine A. Boyd. Foreword by Martin E. Marty. 274 pp. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

The following review essay explores the nature and characteristics of the fundamentalist mindset. The editors note that the fundamentalist mindset, wherever if occurs, is composed of distinct traits such as dualistic thinking, paranoia, and rage in a group context; an apocalyptic orientation that incorporates distinct perspectives on time, death, and violence; a relationship to charismatic leadership; and a totalized conversion experience. The review essay will explore these characteristics in brief, underscoring the major themes found in the authors’ exploration of fundamentalism and the psychological and historical underpinning of the pervading mindset.

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The impact of philosophical wisdom on the pioneers of psychoanalytic work is presented in this article, in particular the influence of Schillers aesthetics on the theoretical and clinical work of Otto Rank. The essay will compare and contrast Schillers major themes—in particular his notions of “the aesthetic impulse,” “will,” and his concept of harmonia—with aspects of Ranks contributions, namely, his notions of creativity and the art of living. Drawing from Schillers aesthetic vision, Ranks notion that art and play are foundational sources for healing is described in the authors own clinical work.

The Creative Dilemma: The Influence of Schiller's Aesthetics on the Life and Work of Otto Rank

Excerpts from an interview with Bob Berky reveal the clowns keen understanding of empathic attunement, what psychotherapists, pastoral counselors, and persons in pastoral care maintain is a vital correspondence toward authentic interpersonal presence. Berky discusses the use of silence and movement to free the individual with whom he invites to his stage from rigid personas and limiting preconceptions. He underscores the life-giving possibilities of the “laugh of recognition”—the realization that we share a kindred experience of being human, and can release our unique potentials toward creative connection and difference.

The Clown's Use of Empathy: An Interview with Bob Berky

Philip Hefner, former Director of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science, and editor of the distinguished journal Zygon, has written a concise and provocative meditation on faith and technology. Regarding the human need to create, which in turn manifests technological creations, Hefner organizes the book around two views of technology. The first is an image from poet Wallace Stevens ‘‘Anecdote of the Jar, that offers a view of the man-made world, symbolized by the glass jar, as at odds with the natural world of field and ‘‘slovenly wilderness. The second is the image of the cyclotron by Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit priest and paleontologist—an image of atomic energy that can be seen not only as destructive, but as ‘‘the forming of a completely new psychic reality whose nature is as yet unexplored (2). These images introduce the central theme of the book: the tension between technology as the desoiler of nature; and technology as ‘‘the pivotal point in the process of making ourselves into new beings (4). The notion that technology can usher in positive transformation leads Hefner to his view of ‘‘human becoming. Hefner asserts that human becoming

Technology and Human Becoming

Eliot’s words capture well Whitcomb’s book on the gifts of waiting, for as the poet reminds us, if hope was based on outcome, who would have hope? Instead, as much as we will to hope and love, to have faith and think through the challenges of life, we must be able to experience this very will as a reception, what Whitcomb calls the ‘‘gift,’’ and this reception is often found in the gifts of waiting. Kierkegaard echoes this theme in his seminal writing about will and hope when he says that ‘‘a letting go’’ constitutes embracing the paradox of ordinary decision in that the passion of thought impels its own letting go, and the paradoxical letting go effects the acquisition of faith. For Kierkegaard as well as the Whitcomb, waiting is not only the human will at work, it is an act of God’s grace in the person at work as well. The acquisition of faith is ineffable and God’s act of grace is ‘‘gift.’’ Yet, its characters as gift are not exclusive of its involving any describable human activity. Activity as a divine gift need not negate its character as genuine human activity, this is, will expression. For Whitcomb, this paradoxical meeting of human activity and divine grace—the momentary experience of the meeting of the finite and infinite—is discerned and expanded through the spiritual gifts of waiting. As she says, ‘‘Waiting is an important guest to honor in the guest house of our humanity’’ (13). The gift of waiting is often difficult to will or receive. As Whitcomb notes, ‘‘Waiting presents an enormous challenge. We are impatient, I-can-fix-it kinds of people...but not all situations can be fixed’’ (12). The author suggests that the difficult discipline of waiting offers us seven spiritual gifts, which she designates as (1) the gift of waiting is patience; (2) the gift of waiting is loss of control; (3) the gift of waiting is the living in the present; (4) the gift of waiting is compassion; (5) the gift of waiting is gratitude; (6) the gift of waiting

Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting. By Holly W. Whitcomb

C.G. Jung commented that humans should learn to live their way ‘‘right out of life, indicating that the art of living includes a forward-looking anticipation of life lived into death. Death becomes a stage into new life. Hence, Jung underscores the importance of individual and community concern for the elderly who live toward transformations of every kind. To live ‘‘right out of life demands cultural mindfulness and practice, a relationship with one s experience of self and other. In The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being, and Aging in Rural Japan, John W. Traphagan details the way people acknowledge and live out these concerns in rural Japan through ritual practices. His excellent study of well-being and aging is a strong addition to the medical anthropology series edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern (University of Pittsburgh, Department of Anthropology) and published by the Carolina Academic Press. The many changes brought about by aging, and their effect on families and communities, is explored through the lens of Japanese religions and rituals in healing practices. It is a compelling and engaging study. Traphagan blends a variety of cultural, sociological and ethnographic analyses to examine specific Japanese concepts regarding aging and well-being—concepts such as ikigai (self-discipline) in contradistinction to boke (loss of self). To keep age and well-being in direct focus leads to omairi, the practice of concern. This practice is also combined with matsuri (public collective rituals). Traphagan argues that senility is not simply a biomedical category in Japan, ‘‘but a moral concept closely related to Japanese ideas about the good person defined in terms of activity (9). The author notes that ‘‘To be a good person—and particularly to be a good rojin (old person)—is to be a socially engaged individual who is involved in activities that incorporate social interaction; failure to maintain activity and social involvement invites loss of well-being and, for the elderly, the onset of senility (9). Traphagan argues that there is a sense in which Japanese religious practice is a systematic approach to ensuring personal and collective well-being, and these practices ‘‘focus on the wellness of being though various systems of institutional and noninstitutional venues and symbolic resources (20). Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 46, No. 1, March 2007 ( 2007) DOI: 10.1007/s10943-006-9100-3

The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being, and Aging in Rural Japan

JUNG AND THE POSTMODERN: THE INTERPRETATION OF REALITIES. By Christopher Hauke. 304 pp. London & Philadelphia: Routledge, 2000. THE FASHIONING OF ANGELS: PARTNERSHIP AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE. By Stephen and Robin Larsen. pp. Chrysalis Books, 2000,

Reviews: Books, Theater, and Painting

19.95. CHILDREN IN THERAPY: USING THE FAMILY AS A RESOURCE. Edited by C. Everett Bailey. 529 pp. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.

Creative dissent : psychoanalysis in evolution

45.00. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION AND COPING: THEORY, RESEARCH, PRACTICE. By Kenneth I. Pargament. New York: Guilford Press, 1997.

Freud, Science, and Soul: A Review Essay

50.00. SOUL WILDERNESS: A DESERT SPIRITUALITY. By Kerry Walters. 153pp. New York/Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2001.