The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling

The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling PDF Author: William B. Parsons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195354087
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
This study examines the history of the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism, starting with the seminal correspondence between Freud and Romain Rolland concerning the concept of "oceanic feeling." Providing a corrective to current views which frame psychoanalysis as pathologizing mysticism, Parsons reveals the existence of three models entertained by Freud and Rolland: the classical reductive, ego-adaptive, and transformational (which allows for a transcendent dimension to mysticism). Then, reconstructing Rolland's personal mysticism (the "oceanic feeling") through texts and letters unavailable to Freud, Parsons argues that Freud misinterpreted the oceanic feeling. In offering a fresh interpretation of Rolland's mysticism, Parsons constructs a new dialogical approach for psychoanalytic theory of mysticism which integrates culture studies, developmental perspectives, and the deep epistemological and transcendent claims of the mystics.

The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling

The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling PDF Author: William Barclay Parsons
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195115082
Category : Mysticism
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Then, reconstructing Rolland's personal mysticism (the "oceanic feeling") through texts and letters unavailable to Freud, Parsons argues that Freud misinterpreted the oceanic feeling."--BOOK JACKET.

Civilization and Its Discontents

Civilization and Its Discontents PDF Author: Sigmund Freud
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486282538
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
(Dover thrift editions).

Freud and Augustine in Dialogue

Freud and Augustine in Dialogue PDF Author: William B. Parsons
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 081393480X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"It is arguably the case," writes William Parsons, "that no two figures have had more influence on the course of Western introspective thought than Freud and Augustine." Yet it is commonly assumed that Freud and Augustine would have nothing to say to each other with regard to spirituality or mysticism, given the former's alleged antipathy to religion and the latter's not usually being considered a mystic. Adopting an interdisciplinary, dialogical, and transformational framework for interpreting Augustine's spiritual journey in his Confessions, Parsons places a "mystical theology" at the heart of Augustine's narrative and argues that his mysticism has been misunderstood partly because of the limited nature of the psychological models applied to it. At the same time, he expands Freud's therapeutic legacy to incorporate the contemporary findings of physiology and neuroscience that have been influenced in part by modern spirituality. Parsons develops a new psychological hermeneutic to account for Augustine's mysticism that will capture the imagination of contemporary readers who are both psychologically informed and interested in spirituality. The author intends this interpretive model not only to engage modern introspective concerns about developmental conflict and the power of the unconscious but also to reach a more nuanced level of insight into the origins and the nature of the self.

Freud and Religion

Freud and Religion PDF Author: William B. Parsons
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108429262
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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

Through a Speculum that Shines

Through a Speculum that Shines PDF Author: Elliot R. Wolfson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691017228
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Judaic scholar Elliot Wolfson's triple award-winning study examines Jewish mystical texts from late antiquity, pre-kabbalistic sources from the 10th to the 12th centuries, and 12th- and 13th-century kabbalistic literature, describing Jewish mysticism and the overwhelmingly visual nature of religious experience in Jewish spirituality from antiquity through the late Middle Ages.

Jesus in the Qurʼan

Jesus in the Qurʼan PDF Author: Geoffrey Parrinder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Jesus Christ in the Koran
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description


Early Psychoanalytic Religious Writings

Early Psychoanalytic Religious Writings PDF Author: H. Newton Malony
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004429220
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Early Psychoanalytic Religious Writings presents, in one edited volume, many of the foundational writings in the psychoanalytic study of religion. These translated works by Abraham, Fromm, Pfister, and others, complement Freud’s seminal contributions and provide a unique window into the origins of psychoanalytic thinking.

Moses and Civilization

Moses and Civilization PDF Author: Robert A. Paul
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300064285
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
And he details the way Freud's myth corresponds to the unconscious fantasy structure of the obsessional personality - a style of personality dynamics Paul sees as essential to maintaining the bureaucratic institutions that comprise Western civilization's most distinctive features.

Teaching Mysticism

Teaching Mysticism PDF Author: William B. Parsons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199751196
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The term ''mysticism'' has never been consistently defined or employed, either in religious traditions or in academic discourse. The essays in this volume offer ways of defining what mysticism is, as well as methods for grappling with its complexity in a classroom.This volume addresses the diverse literature surrounding mysticism in four interrelated parts. The first part includes essays on the tradition and context of mysticism, devoted to drawing out and examining the mystical element in many religious traditions. The second part engages traditions and religio-cultural strands in which ''mysticism'' is linked to other terms, such as shamanism, esotericism, and Gnosticism. The volume's third part focuses on methodological strategies for defining ''mysticism,'' with respect to varying social spaces. The final essays show how contemporary social issues and movements have impacted the meaning, study, and pedagogy of mysticism.Teaching Mysticism presents pedagogical reflections on how best to communicate mysticism from a variety of institutional spaces. It surveys the broad range of meanings of mysticism, its utilization in the traditions, the theories and methods that have been used to understand it, and provides critical insight into the resulting controversies.