Ancient Religious Wisdom, Spirituality and Psychoanalysis

(Hardback)

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This volume presents a rationale for a spiritually animated psychoanalysis. Classic world religious literature is analyzed in depth showing how Ecclesiastes, St. Augustine's Confessions, The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and others can enhance psychoanalysis. Marcus argues that psychoanalysis is a theory and profession in crisis, partly due to its alienation from the spiritual and moral philosophies contained in ancient religious wisdom. This volume presents the spiritual as a core dimension of the psyche, and the quest for self-transcendencemeeting the glory of the Infiniteas a quest inherent in the human condition. Of special interest to those studying psychoanalysis, psychology, and religious studies, this volume may also intrigue those studying the philosophy of religion.

Reviews

"Clearly and directly, Dr. Marcus shows clinicians what they can gain from an engagement with the spiritual and ethical wisdom of humankind. A real strength of this book is its non-sectarian character and the diversity of traditions it draws upon. Those who have just begun to consider what spiritual and moral wisdom might contribute to clinical practice and those who have thought about this issue for years will all learn something new from the range of sources discussed here."-James W. Jones, Psy.D, Ph.D., Rutgers University, author of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion
"Marcus does a lovely job linking psychoanalysis with the ancient wisdom traditions it is, partly, based on. Reading the book is itself both a therapeutic and spiritual experience."-Michael Eigen Author, Ecstasy and The Psychoanalytic Mystic
Marcus emphasizes the trans-historical and non-temporal dimensions of the wisdom traditions, namely, the emphasis on the universal meaning rather than the particular. His aim is to address the secular psychoanalyst and analysand as well as scholars in the field of psychology and religion. The aim of his inquiry is not a clinical handbook, but rather an exploration of how psychoanalysis both in theory and praxis can become more receptive to the transcendent dimension in human development. Overall, Marcus's inquiry is a significant and timely contribution to contemporary scholarship in the field of religion and psychology.-Studies in Religion
Marcus has written a wonderful introduction to the use of religious and spiritual concepts in psychoanalysis. His aim is to help psychoanalysts begin to cultivate a new sensibility that is open to the concept and manifestation of transcendence in the psychoanalytic process....No other book offers such an impartial and scholarly look at these various systems of thought. The text is well documented with extensive notes. Though directed at practitioners of psychoanalysis, the book will also be of interest to anyone exploring comparative religion. Highly recommended. Readers at all levels.-Choice
Paul Marcus has made a rich and rewarding contribution to a growing body of literature that is intent on closing the breach that until recently exsisted between religion and psychoanalysis....At the end of Marcus' book is a bibliography of suggested readings in the growing literature that addressed the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion. It's a pleasure to report that this is a book that belongs on any such list. I recommend it highly for those already interested in this topic and for those seeking to learn more about what has too long been neglected by the analytic community.-Psychologist-Psychoanalyst
"Marcus emphasizes the trans-historical and non-temporal dimensions of the wisdom traditions, namely, the emphasis on the universal meaning rather than the particular. His aim is to address the secular psychoanalyst and analysand as well as scholars in the field of psychology and religion. The aim of his inquiry is not a clinical handbook, but rather an exploration of how psychoanalysis both in theory and praxis can become more receptive to the transcendent dimension in human development. Overall, Marcus's inquiry is a significant and timely contribution to contemporary scholarship in the field of religion and psychology."-Studies in Religion
"Marcus has written a wonderful introduction to the use of religious and spiritual concepts in psychoanalysis. His aim is to help psychoanalysts begin to cultivate a new sensibility that is open to the concept and manifestation of transcendence in the psychoanalytic process....No other book offers such an impartial and scholarly look at these various systems of thought. The text is well documented with extensive notes. Though directed at practitioners of psychoanalysis, the book will also be of interest to anyone exploring comparative religion. Highly recommended. Readers at all levels."-Choice
"Paul Marcus has made a rich and rewarding contribution to a growing body of literature that is intent on closing the breach that until recently exsisted between religion and psychoanalysis....At the end of Marcus' book is a bibliography of suggested readings in the growing literature that addressed the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion. It's a pleasure to report that this is a book that belongs on any such list. I recommend it highly for those already interested in this topic and for those seeking to learn more about what has too long been neglected by the analytic community."-Psychologist-Psychoanalyst

Author Bio

PAUL MARCUS is Supervising and Training Analyst for the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is author of Autonomy in the Extreme Situation: Bruno Bettelheim, the Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mass Society (Praeger, 1999).