Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

PART A: Chapters 1-6
In the opening section of this thesis I introduce the context in which the research is located
and frames the subject - the emergence of religion and spirituality in contemporary
psychoanalysis. The psychoanalytic context illustrates how Freud’s views on religion are
no longer regarded as ‘compelling or correct’. The personal context locates the researcher
within the subject and offers critical and reflexive engagement on my motivation in doing
this research. This places the research within a qualitative and reflexive paradigm outlined
in detail in part C.
The methodological context includes discussion of reflexivity, ontology, epistemology and
intersubjective ways of knowing. I argue for the importance of ontology preceding
epistemology, leading to identification of my ontological assumptions. These have the
potential to reveal new ways of being and seeing, but also the potential to distort perspective
through the lens of a personal vision. It is important therefore that these assumptions are
allowed a voice, adding a reflexive dimension that has been missing from the existing
debate concerning religion and spirituality in psychoanalysis.
The latter chapters of part A offer clarification, discussion and definition of contemporary
psychoanalysis, religion, spirituality and the sacred, locating the research within current
academic debates. Sacred psychoanalysis has evolved as part of these wider debates and
enables psychoanalysis to be involved beyond its own limited theoretical, clinical and
political boundaries. This is seen in historical context, and by providing a brief account of
key developments and people in the engagement of religion and spirituality, before turning
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