Psychoanalysis and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series) [Paperback]

Erich Fromm (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1959)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300000898
• ISBN-13: 978-0300000894
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading!, April 22, 2007

By 

Rev4u "Rev" (PV, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Psychoanalysis and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series) (Paperback)

Another great book by a great mind. Although, this volume is not his masterpiece work, it is definitely worth reading. Fromm taps into the core issues of religion, and addresses the schizm that exists within the bureaucracy of organized religion. One side is pulling toward a patriarchal, authoritarian, fear and guilt orientation, while the other is geared toward self-realization, as well as the promotion of human ideals. He does not agree with Freud on many issues, and he warns about the limits of psychoanalysis as a tool in the search for man's higher spiritual self. Although psychoanalysis is not trendy any longer, it remains the core and the glue that holds the subjective field of psychology together.

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best...., December 6, 2001

By 

Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychoanalysis and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series) (Paperback)

Fromm rigidly adheres to his version of the humanist position here by claiming that the mystics of all faiths have been imbued with the glow of man's powers--powers of heart, mind, spirit--rather than God's, God being a symbol of those same powers, awaiting unfoldment.

From a theistic/mystical perspective, however, this is a side-effect, and if taken for the Source of the experience brings on a tremendous inflation of the ego. No mystic really thinks, as Fromm does, that man is the measure of all things. Fromm is best when he sticks to human psychology--THE SANE SOCIETY, ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM, THE ART OF LOVING are worth buying.

5.0 out of 5 stars This book opens the door to a deeper spirituality behind the system of religion., September 14, 2011

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C_Ava - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Psychoanalysis and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series) (Paperback)

Read this a while ago and recently took it with me on a plane to read again. Such a smart book. Ironically though, this book points to some sort of spiritual truth rather than negate it. It's not that Fromm seeks to do this so much, but he lifts a lid off the "system" and it's falsity which paves the way to a higher mysterious truth that is buried in most "mass organizations governed by a religious bureaucracy" as he puts it. It's strange that this book does this. It's a very wise approach to the problem that most great religions have created. It's an honest in depth look at it all rather than the usual way some people respond to religion these days which is to disregard them with superficial reasons rather than to dig deep into the psychology behind it all. When going beyond that psychology, the discovery is there must be more, but we never get it right in our man made systems which are often developed from fear and the need to control rather than faith which is an embracing of mystery that we will never fully have all the answers for.