Freud and Jung on Religion [Hardcover]

Michael Palmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 1997

Michael Palmer provides a detailed account of the theories of religion of both Freud and Jung and sets them side by side for the first time

In the first section of the text Dr Palmer analyses Freud's claim that religion is an obsessional neurosis - a psychological illness fuelled by sexual repression. The second section considers Jung's rejection of Freud's theory and his own assertion that it is the absence of religion, not its presence, which leads to neurosis.

Freud and Jung on Religion is suitable for general and specialist reader alike, as it assumes no prior knowledge of the theories of Freud or Jung and is an invaluable teaching text.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Michael Palmer's book," is exactly what it says it is: a study of Freud's and Jung's psychologies and their understandings of religion.."
-by Peter Homans, Divinity School and Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago, in Contemporary Psychology APA Review of Books, 2002.

About the Author

Michael Palmer is an Academic Tutor in Philosophy at Westminster College, Oxford. He is author of Paul Tillich's Philosophy of Art (1984) and editor of Moral Problems (1991).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415147468
• ISBN-13: 978-0415147460
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,875,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent on Freud, Not so hot on Jung, December 21, 1999

By 

booklover "booklover" (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freud and Jung on Religion (Paperback)

The book provides a very informative overview of Freud's psychology.

The philosophical discussion is hardly in depth, for instance, the debate about how empirical Freud is was hardly touched upon.

He does examine in detail Freud's criticisms of religion. The author's reply to Freud's criticisms is devastating.

I found it interesting to learn that Freud was a Lamarckian. According to this book, Freud felt that the genetic theory of inheritance hadn't caught up to his theories. Science knew then and it certainly knows now that psychic trauma cannot be inherited. Freud's theory of iherited guilt feelings resembles in a way Augustine's theory of inherited Original Sin.

The Jung section was interesting but ultimately unsatisfying. He views Jung as a Berkleyian or Kantian idealist reducing everything to experience. I don't think this is fair to Jung. Jung's thought is not so one-dimensional.

My take on Jung is that the spiritual quest is fundamental and that the quest is mythic in scope. The occasional Berkelyian or Kantian window dressing Jung gives his quest are inconsequential and not important to Jung's thoughts. I can understand why those who would like to pigeon-hole Jung latch on to this aspect of his thought, but it is like dwelling on the frame of the Mona Lisa and forgetting about the content of the picture.

Jung regarded himself as trying to pursue a middle way in spirtual matters, not literal like the fundamentalists or reductionist like Freud or 19th century materialists. The author's arguments that Jung failed in this endeavor are not entirely convincing.

There are books that are more sympathetic to Jung and also better books in my opinion. I highly recommend -- Transformation of the God-Image by Edward F. Edinger and Jung and Christianity: the Challenge of Reconciliation by Wallace B. Clift. Wallace B. Clift is very critical of Jung's views that God has a dark side but is also very informative.

Having said all this; I must say Palmer's book was a very enjoyable read, a real page-turner in fact which is rare for a philosophy book, written extremely well and with great clarity.