Explorations in the Psychology of Religion
"Let's go back, Celestine. It's too cold." |
"It's too dark. We'll never find him now." |
We cannot understand fully what compels human beings to seek after that which they name 'God' until and unless we understand something about our relationship to our teddy bears. - John McDargh |
In this course, to be offered alternate Fall semesters (2005, 2007, etc.), we will explore the emergence of religious belief in children from a psychoanalytic perspective. . In particular, we will study the writings of three groups of psychoanalytic theorists: scholars who closely follow Freud, "object relations theorists” who comprise the British school of psychoanalysis, and “Lacanians” who comprise the French school of psychoanalysis. Defining "religious belief" as "meaning-making oriented toward ultimacy," we will trace its origins to very early childhood. Please see the syllabus for a more detailed discussion of course themes and objectives.
