The Mind of the Bible-Believer [Paperback]

Edmund D. Cohen (Author), Sherwin T. Wine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1988

Cohen sees much harm arising from the huge explosion of the Christian Right during the last two decades. He demonstrates how the indoctrination received in these churches undermines the mental health of individuals, causing widespread suffering, due to the victims' reluctance to speak out. He also shows how this indoctrination makes bible-believers into unwitting supporters of far-right political causes they would otherwise reject.Beginning in 1984, Cohen conducted a videotape monitoring of Pat Robertson. In 1987, he joined forces with Gerard Thomas Straub (a former producer of the 700 Club and author of "Salvation for Sale") to expose Robertson's extremist tendencies. Cohen made important behind-the-scenes contributions to stories about Robertson aired on NBC News with Tom Brokaw and West 57th Street, and to two front-page stories in the "New York Times". In the course of his investigation, Cohen made numerous radio and television appearances. The final chapter in "The Mind of the Bible-Believer" chronicles that effort.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; Revised edition (September 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879754958
• ISBN-13: 978-0879754952
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read Carefully, Ye Who Enter Here, June 24, 2000

By 

Glenn E. Oehms (Stone Mountain, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mind of the Bible-Believer (Paperback)

This book makes a very positive contribution to any dialogue about how the bible itself influences the human nature of dedicated biblicists. Cohen, who, in presenting a psychological thesis, of course, uses psychological terminology, states clearly what he finds useful in Freud and Jung's work and where he differs from them and other contemporary schools of psychological thought.

Whether the New Testament was "constructed" as a mind control device, or just turned out that way because of the vested interests and intent of the authors and assemblers, Cohen, in fact, leads one through its labyrinthine inconsistencies, without installing a nose ring to do it. I found his review of psychological theory robust, and one does not have to accept his particular model for operation of the subconscious mind in order to benefit from his analysis based on that model.

Cohen's inferences and conclusions, like those of any author, must be weighed in your own hopper. Don't be put off or on by mention of psychobabble. A useful term when it was coined, psychobabble becomes almost meaningless as a designation unless you really know what specifically is being referred to. Psychological terminology is not inherently psychobable; it becomes so in the hands of incautious users. Thus, the term psychobabble has become little more than an expletive.

Whatever you ultimately decide about Cohen's various answers to the questions he raises, you will benefit from having considered them and the evidence he presents. By all means be alert for holes in the arguments and variations of interpretation of some of the patterns, but the book serves its purpose: to have us think "out of the traditional rut" about how mindless fundamentalists get that way and are kept that way. And please note, I use the term mindless very deliberately, because that above all is the characteristic I have observed, an observation that matches much of what Cohen brings out. Being mindless or functioning in a limited, mind-controlled way thwarts the very thoughts we must pursue to mature in life. Cohen is right about that. No one's infantile ranting should dissuade any interested reader from examining and profiting from the book.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Insight, November 21, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Mind of the Bible-Believer (Paperback)

This book offers an insightful analysis of the mind-control devices inherent in a literal approach to the Bible. As someone who once subscribed to that mindset, I found Cohen's book to be very helpful in understanding my experience and the reactions of my close friends who still subscribe to it. I don't really buy Cohen's assertion that the writers of the Bible designed it to be potent as a mind-control weapon intentionally (possibly, but I imagine that it evolved on its own following the laws of nature -- that which was potent enough to attract followers survived while that which was not was lost), but it was helpful to me to explore what is attractive and what is ultimately flawed about that approach to life. As someone who is already familiar with the Bible, I found his in-depth analysis of Bible verses and their effect on people's lives to be a little slow, but I suppose it would be very helpful for someone who has not been exposed to christian fundamentalism before. I found his explanation that the belief system creates the very problems it promises to solve to be a delightful paradox that rings true. I recommend this book and suggest that anyone who wants to know what's up with Christian fundamentalism flip to the end where he describes the devices Christianity uses one by one.

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary, scary, scary stuff, September 29, 1999

By 

P. Murray "http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray" (Canberra, ACT Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mind of the Bible-Believer (Paperback)

I had been an exchristian for a couple of months before readingthis. Even so, while reading it I felt like something bad was behind me - I had to turn around in my chair and look to reassure myself that there wasn't. I was shocked to find the imaginary boogeymen of Christianity rooted so deeply in my own mind.

We all know that there are Christian cults out there that practise mind control and brainwashing. This book exposes the fact that this is the norm for NT christianity, not the exception. The new testament is mind-control propaganda, propaganda that held all the minds of Europe in its grip for a millennium and a half.

It exposes the newspeak of christianity. The doublethink, the blackwhite, the slippery concepts and words. It explains why, as a christian, it's possible to read a passage of scripture over and over and still feel like you don't that makes it so difficult for a christian to reason about their faith. The dreadful fear at the bottom of christianity.

It exposes the poverty of Christian "love", and "joy". It demonstrates the equivocal definitions of 'truth' and 'freedom' that make a lie of "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make in faith, and how it is that faith is the opposite of sin. And in so doing, suddenly makes sense of every bible verse, every book, and every sermon on the topic that I have ever read or heard.

Get this, and get George Orwell's "1984" if you don't already have it. But if you are a recent exchristian, don't read it late at night like I did.