Christianity & Psychoanalysis: A New Conversation (Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0830828567 ISBN 13: 9780830828562

Publisher: INTER VARSITY PR, 2014

Synopsis

Unsurprisingly, given Sigmund Freud's understanding of religion, the conversation between Christianity and psychoanalysis has long been marked by mutual suspicion. Psychoanalysis originated within a naturalist, post-Enlightenment context and sought to understand human functioning and pathology--focusing on phenomena such as the unconscious and object representation--on a strictly empirical basis. Given certain accounts of divine agency and human uniqueness, psychoanalytic work was often seen as competitive with a Christian understanding of the human person. The contributors to Christianity and Psychoanalysis seek to start a new conversation. Aided by the turn to relationality in theology, as well as by a noncompetitive conception of God's transcendence and agency, this book presents a fresh integration of Christian thought and psychoanalytic theory. The immanent processes identified by psychoanalysis need not compete with Christian theology but can instead be the very means by which God is involved in human existence. The Christian study of psychoanalysis can thus serve the flourishing of God's kingdom.

About this title

Review:

"In Christianity and Psychoanalysis, Strawn and Bland provide us with fresh horizons for integrating psychology and theology while also reinvigorating ancient questions about healing and spiritual maturity. This book brings together many of the most seasoned and thoughtful integrators of psychoanalytic clinical practice and Christian theology. It is rare to find resources such as this, which are theoretically sophisticated, theologically nuanced and therapeutically relevant. The rich motif of 'Christian traditioning' represents an important contribution to relational approaches to integration, which moves us beyond the safe shores of general ideas and invites us to own our particular and formative commitments."--Steven J. Sandage, Boston University

About the Author:

Earl D. Bland (PsyD, Illinois School of Professional Psychology) is professor of psychology and chair of the department of behavioral sciences at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas.

About this edition

• Publisher: INTER VARSITY PR
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0830828567
• ISBN 13: 9780830828562
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306
• Editor: Bland Earl D, Strawn Brad D