Psychoanalysis and Theism: Critical Reflections on the GrYnbaum Thesis

Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi’s Psychoanalysis and Theism is a timely treasure. Seven essays responding to Adolf Grünbaum’s “Psychoanalysis and Theism,” with which the book begins, revive Freud’s penetrating speculations about the meaning and psycho-dynamics of religion and carry them further. The authors explore the Oedipal angle of religion, the susceptibility of Catholicism to Freudian inquiry, the relationship of Jewish universalism to Freud’s topic, the nature of the questions of illusion and delusion that Freud raised in regard to religious belief and behavior, and still more. Divided into two parts―Methods and Motives, and Interpretation and Meaning―the book offers the reader a brilliant set of essays that plumb and apply Freud’s take on religion both appreciatively and critically. — Gordon Fellman, PhD, Brandeis University

This volume has been overdue. Asking what psychology has to say about religion, it does not loose itself in providing a host of facts and details. Rather, it dares to turn to the grand and incomparably influential theory psychoanalysis continues to be. Some of the best scholars worldwide engage in a multidisciplinary and critical discussion with eminent thinkers ranging from Freud to Grünbaum, resulting in a must read for anyone interested in the psychological study of religion. — Jacob A. Belzen, PhD, University of Amsterdam