Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

CHAPTER EIGHT. PATTERNS OF ENGAGEMENT –
INCARNATIONAL/TRANSFERENTIAL
Meissner and Rizzuto’s ground-breaking work of establishing a credible dialogue and new
psychoanalytic theory related to transitional and representational aspects of human
development were taken further and in a different direction by Leavy and Jones. Firstly,
they evolved distinct but linked theoretical stances of involving a belief in God and an
experience of the sacred within the psychoanalytic dialogue, accessible through
transference. They offer much less focus on Freud and a much greater focus on
contemporary psychoanalytic developments. Leavy also draws on linguistic and
hermeneutic developments within psychoanalysis adopting ideas from Lacan, Ricoeur and
Schafer.
Secondly Leavy and Jones also share the symmetrical ontology found in Meissner and
Rizzuto, though in this case holding together orthodox, credal religious belief (Episcopal) as
the source of revealing/revelation that allows a transcendent God to be experienced within
human selfhood. Psychoanalysis has a vital part to play in facilitating ongoing creative
processes lived out through psychoanalytic, religious and spiritual experience. These have
the potential to lead towards, rather than away from, a discovery or re-discovery of God.
Psychoanalysis understood in this theological context, offers a richer understanding of the
truth of human personhood and has the potential to facilitate I-Thou encounter. Where
Leavy and Jones go beyond Rizzuto and Meissner is through their focus on the objective
truth of God and the sacred, not just religious experience as the source of engagement.
96