Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

CHAPTER THREE. PSYCHOANALYSIS IN RELIGIOUS AND
SPIRITUAL CONTEXTS
Despite Freud’s apparent dogmatic atheism, some psychoanalysts have retained religious or
spiritual beliefs or engaged with religion creatively rather than reductively. Before
examining the psychoanalytic world from the late 1970s, when a new era of religious and
spiritual engagement began, 76 the responses from psychoanalysts to religion and spirituality
up to that point took three distinct forms. 77
Firstly, some valued religion and spirituality as part of a broader understanding of being
human examined by psychoanalysis, without advocating specific religious or spiritual
belief. A summary, but not exhaustive list includes Jung (Bair 2004), Andreas-Salome
(Andreas-Salome 1964), Binswanger (Binswanger 1957; Schmindl 1959), Horney (Quinn
1987; Paris 1994), Erikson (Capps 1997; Wallerstein and Goldberger 1998), Fromm-
Riechmann (Hornstein 2000), Fromm (Cortina and Maccoby 1996), Brierley (Brierley 1947,
1951), 78 Miller (Goldman 1997) Kohut (Strozier 1997) and Lacan (Earle 1997; Raschke
1997).
Secondly, some analysts were influenced by their religious upbringing, positively or
negatively, without necessarily advocating adult belief. This list includes such figures as
76 Simmonds identifies this as a ‘third wave’ (Simmonds 2003).
77 Although lists of psychoanalysts are mentioned, this information is accessed through publications. As in all
histories there are many unnamed people who contributed to developments but who rarely get acknowledged.
For example, I met with Ronald Markillie in 1990 to interview him about a former supervisee and student,
Frank Lake (Ross 1993). I became aware of his involvement in religious and spiritual engagement within
psychoanalysis, but this would have been difficult to establish from his few published writings.
78 Brierley was influential in the British context, caught up in the ‘controversial discussions’, as well as the
author of articles relating Christianity to psychoanalysis.
40