H. Westerink

Spirituality in the Psychology of Religion: A Concept in Search of Its Meaning

In this article it is argued that the apparent vagueness and broadness of the concept ‘spirituality’ and the difficulty in finding an agreeable definition for it are related to the different meanings of the concept within different intellectual and religious contexts and, subsequently, to different valuations of spirituality in relation to religion and lived religiosity. This article also examines the concept spirituality in the context of the psychology of religions historical entanglement with theology. On the one hand, the psychology of religion has emancipated itself from theological discourse and theological institutions. On the other hand, the psychology of religion is still closely connected to a modernist theological project of founding religiousness in a province of the mind that resists religious critique of traditional contents and institutional structures in a secular era. The author pleas for more differentiation between theistic and non-theistic dimensions of the concept spirituality.

The resourceful self. And a little child shall lead them

In this book, The Resourceful Self. And a Little Child Shall Lead Them, Donald Capps takes his starting point from a certain popular opinion about Erik Eriksons writings, namely that his theories ...

Sexuality and Its Object in Freud's 1905 Edition of 'Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality'

Translations of summary Freuds Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality is one of the grounding texts of 20th century European thinking. In it Freud develops a highly original theory of sexuality for which hysteria (and pathology in general) serves a model to understand human existence. Freud published this text five times during his lifetime. This article wants to reconstruct the first edition with regard to the status and nature of (infantile) sexuality in relation to its object. It investigates how and why this relation changes in the different versions of the text. The reconstruction of the first edition is a crucial, but often forgotten task to understand the genesis of Freudian thinking.

Demonic Possession and the Historical Construction of Melancholy and Hysteria

Contrary to the often-voiced opinion that the birth of modern psychiatry should be regarded as a victory of enlightened science and rationality over outdated religious beliefs and ecclesiastical authority, it is argued in this article that the emergence of medical and psychiatric approaches to pathology in modernity takes place in the context of intensified religious life and mutual rivalry between the various religious denominations. Notably the two main types of demonological possession appearing in the context of Protestant and Catholic religious life, theological reflections and pastoral practices play a major role in the conceptualizations of melancholy and hysteria. The heritage of this can be viewed in the works of psychiatrists such as Charcot and Kraepelin, and also in Freud’s psychoanalysis.

THE GREAT MAN FROM TARSUS: FREUD ON THE APOSTLE PAUL

The author describes developments in Freud’s writings concerning his views on the apostle Paul. This development shows that Freud more and more clearly regarded Paul as a key figure in understanding the complex relationship between Judaism and Christianity—and also as a man who essentially has no comfortable place in either of these religions. For Freud, Paul was a unique figure, an analyst of the human character and of his own culture and religion—a Jew who tried to free himself and his people from the burden of the sense of guilt.