Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

form of splitting reminiscent of early psychopathology (Likierman 2001). In the last three
decades there has been the evolution of a common ground framework, as seen in figure 5.
Figure 5. A common ground interpretative framework
Attempts at engagement that overcome the separation inherent in a dialectic framework,
have focused on identifying an overlap of interest, though the precise nature of this was
determined by the dominance of religious or psychoanalytic beliefs. For example, Hans
Kung as a theologian associated with the Roman Catholic Church identifies the theoretical
weakness of both Freud and psychoanalysis in addressing many issues of being human, but
values some psychoanalytic insights and sees these aiding the theological task (Kung 1979).
Donald Capps, a Protestant pastoral theologian, has with Paul Pruyser, long pioneered
religious, spiritual and psychoanalytic engagement on a wide range of topics including
hermeneutics, transitional phenomena, the psychoanalytic study of religion,
psychobiography, the psychology of religion and the applications of psychoanalytic insights
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