Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

two-way process with the researcher attempting to elicit other aspects from the interviewee
by revealing something of themselves, consciously or unconsciously.
Thirdly, in describing his pictures AP says ‘Two of them are by two of my children, I mean
two of them are by one of my children uhm and I love them’ (AP 753-754). This opens an
area that I felt to be very significant in the moment of the interview and on the subsequent
recording, poignant, sacred, touching but somehow I felt I could not enquire more. I know
little of AP’s history other than that he has an adopted daughter. So I was left not knowing
if there is a complex history and other children? This was further reinforced when late in
the interview having asked about my faith, AP appears out of the blue, to say ‘Do you have
any children?’ The interview left me feeling that AP clearly sees children as of great
importance, more so than psychoanalysis or religion, and as recipients of the best we can
offer ‘I love them’ (AP 755).
Intersubjective presence
My interview with AP led him to become curious about my faith, and what it is that drives,
inhabits, activates, and motivates me? Of all the interviews I have conducted I was more
open with AP as there seemed a genuine interest, and as a consequence I subsequently sent
him my book Evangelicals in Exile (1997). AP was interested to know which theologians I
read, how I came to faith and how I lived out my faith. I felt that he wanted a form of
dialogue as he had shared something of his narrative and in turn wanted something from
me? There was a sense of mutuality that flattered me given his profile and status, but which
enabled me to see something of the man behind the reputation in the way a patient might see
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