The Religious and Romantic Origins of Psychoanalysis

In this book, Suzanne Kirschner traces the origins of contemporary psychoanalysis back to the foundations of Judaeo-Christian culture, and challenges the prevailing view that modern theories of the self mark a radical break with religious and cultural tradition. Instead, she argues, they offer an account of human development which has its beginnings in biblical theology and neoplatonic mysticism. Drawing on a wide range of religious, literary, philosophical and anthropological sources, Dr Kirschner demonstrates that current Anglo-American psychoanalytic theories are but the latest version of a narrative that has been progressively secularized over the course of nearly two millennia. She displays a deep understanding of psychoanalytic theories, while at the same time raising provocative questions about their status as knowledge and as science.

• Most detailed attempt yet to trace the religious sources of any theory of human development
• Focuses on most contemporary and influential theories of psychoanalysis (not on classical Freudianism)
• Neither idealises nor attempts to debunk psychoanalysis - most other books try to do one or the other