The Other Freud: Religion, Culture And Psychoanalysis

The Other Freud “This is a landmark in the confluence of Freud studies and Religious studies, and perhaps the most important book in that area since Ricoeur’s Freud and Philosophy.” Frederick Ruf, Georgetown University “The Other Freud is a highly original and important book.” Charles Winquist, Syracuse University “This is a fine project. The scholarship is impeccable.” Diane Jonte-Pace, Santa Clara University Sigmund Freud’s major texts on religion and culture have largely been ignored by contemporary postmodern theorists. In The Other Freud, James J.DiCenso argues for a rigorous rereading based on the conceptual methodology of contemporary postmodern thought. Using the works of Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva, DiCenso analyses Freud’s religious writings, such as Totem and Taboo and Moses and Monotheism, with the intention of exposing an “other” Freud. The author discovers a Freud who is neither mechanistic nor inflexibly reductive, but rather an insightful investigator of the transformative effect of religion upon the human psyche and culture. The book focuses on the discrepancies of Freudian thought at the intersections between culture and psychology, and demonstrates, with scholarly rigor and impressive freshness, that these are rich, multileveled texts which have the power to foster serious interdisciplinary debate. James J.DiCenso has produced an insightful, accessible and highly stimulating work which is a major addition to the existing literature on psychoanalysis and religion. James J.DiCenso is Associate Professor at the Department for the Study of Religions at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Hermeneutics and the Disclosure of Truth. The Other Freud Religion, culture and psychoanalysis James J.DiCenso London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1999 James J.DiCenso All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data DiCenso, James The Other Freud: religion, culture, and psychoanalysis/James J. DiCenso. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Psychoanalysis and religion. 2. Freud, Sigmund, 1856–1939–Religion. I. Title. BF175.4.R44D53 1999 150.19′52′092–dc21 98–23772 CIP ISBN 0-203-98342-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-19658-2 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-19659-0 (pbk) Contents 1 2 3 4 5 Acknowledgments vi Introduction: tensions in Freud, extensions in Lacan and Kristeva 1 Trauma, Oedipus complex, and the exigencies of subjective formation 15 Traumatic experience and psychical reality 15 Oedipal dynamics and entry into the symbolic 19 Religion, ethics, and acculturation 29 Freud’s critique of religion and the latent issue of ethical transformation 29 Lacan and the proble