Acting Out and Sin: Psychoanalytic and Theological Perspectives

89 Pages·2022·1.39 MB·English

by  Henry Kellerman

SpringerBriefs in Psychology
Henry Kellerman
Acting Out and Sin
Psychoanalytic and
Theological Perspectives
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Henry Kellerman
Acting Out and Sin
Psychoanalytic and Theological Perspectives
Henry Kellerman
Institute of the Postgraduate Psychoanalytic Society
NYC, NY, USA
ISSN 2192-8363 ISSN 2192-8371 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Psychology
ISBN 978-3-031-13036-6 ISBN 978-3-031-13037-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13037-3
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The memory of these few of the many
outstanding Yiddish writers and poets.
Sorah Barkan
Martin Birinboim
Shika Dreez
Itsik Feffer
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Representing those who understand that all
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Books by the Author
Authored Books
The Psychoanalysis of Symptoms
Dictionary of Psychopathology
Group Psychotherapy and Personality: Intersecting Structures, 1979 (Reissued with
the subtitle: A Theoretical Model, 2015)
Sleep Disorders: Insomnia and Narcolepsy
Curing Psychological Symptoms, (Reissued edition. 2020; Bulgarian edition,
2021). Originally published 2007, as─“The 4 Steps to Peace of Mind: The
Simple Effective Way to Cure Our Emotional Symptoms.” (Romanian edition,
2008; Japanese edition, 2011)
Love Is Not Enough: What It Takes to Make It Work
Greedy, Cowardly, and Weak: Hollywood's Jewish Stereotypes
Hollywood Movies on the Couch: A Psychoanalyst Examines 15 Famous Films
Haggadah: A Passover Seder for the Rest of Us
Personality: How it Forms (Korean edition, 2017)
The Discovery of God: A Psycho/Evolutionary Perspective
A Consilience of Natural and Social Sciences: A Memoir of Original Contributions
Anatomy of Delusion
Psychoanalysis of Evil: Perspectives on Destructive Behavior
There's No Handle on My Door: Stories of Patients in Mental Hospitals
Psychotherapeutic Traction: Uncovering the Patient’s Power-Theme and Basic-Wish
On the Nature of Nature
The Origin of Language
The Unconscious Domain
The 7 Keys to Your Unconscious Mind
To Bring Good News: A Memoir
Injustice of the Predatory World: A Book of Essays
Covid: A Love Story (On the Psychology of the Virus)
The Psychoanalytic Codes: Encryption and Decryption
Acting-Out and Sin: Psychoanalytic and Theological Perspectives
vii
viii Books by the Author
The Ghost Trilogy
The Making of Ghosts: A Novel
Ghosts of Dreams: A Novel
The Ghost: A Novel
Coauthored Books
(with Anthony Burry, Ph.D.)
Psychopathology and Differential Diagnosis: A Primer
Volume 1. History of Psychopathology
Volume 2. Diagnostic Primer
Handbook of Psychodiagnostic Testing: Analysis of Personality in the Psychological
Report. 1st edition, 1981; 2nd edition,1991; 3rd edition, 1997; 4th edition, 2007.
(Japanese edition, 2011).
Edited Books
Group Cohesion: Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives
The Nightmare: Psychological and Biological Foundations
Coedited Books
(with Robert Plutchik, Ph.D.)
Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience
Volume 1. Theories of Emotion
Volume 2. Emotions in Early Development
Volume 3. Biological Foundations of Emotion
Volume 4. The Measurement of Emotion
Volume 5. Emotion, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy
The Emotions Profile Index: Test and Manual
Preface
We begin with the issue of clarifying “derivation,” that is, with respect to sin and
evil, which one is derivative of the other? It’s interesting to note that in the psycho-
analytic, sociological, and historical/political literature, sin is not significantly (or
even hardly at all) literally discussed, except of course as implied. Rather, in general
literature, and as phenomena, both sin and evil are seen in bold relief─especially in
fiction.
Of course, in the theological literature the issue of sin is discussed, abstracted,
analyzed, theorized, and “Godlyized,” and its relation to evil is also certainly perva-
sively embedded in such theological distillations. In this book, however, we shall
attempt to examine sin and evil as embraced in the psychoanalytic concept of
acting-out.
This psychoanalytic concept of acting-out is defined as:
You “do” something rather than “know” something.
Essentially, this means that with respect to evil behavior as a “doing thing,” the
evil deed gets done─except that the “getting done” is in place of understanding
something about the reason or need for it to be done. In other words, one does not
want to see the evil deed as sin. Thus, in psychoanalytic understanding, the evil
doing thing is actually designed in the metapsychological unconscious mind, in
order not to understand the reason for such doing.
This particular dynamic of “doing” (instead of “knowing”) implies that the cure
of such behavior resides within the person’s mind─especially in the unconscious
mind where things are psychologically considered to be repressed. Such uncon-
scious content is presumably repressed in order for the person not to know the
motive or reason for the “doing” behavior so that as a function of consciousness, the
person is thereby not self-accused and therefore not guilty of sin.
In this sense of it all and with respect to the title of this book, Acting-Out and Sin:
Psychoanalytic and Theological Perspectives, the issue becomes one of either tak-
ing a position that only God, as an outside force, can affect or erase sin and evil
behavior from the world, or, instead, would it be possible for humans to affect such
erasure themselves by learning more about the self? It might be hypothesized that in
ix
x Preface
this learning process, whatever is repressed can be made conscious (be unrepressed),
and then presumably worked with─instead of behaving in the absence of under-
standing as in: “doing” something rather than “knowing” something.
That is to say that, especially in Christian theological interpretation, sin is given
for Jesus to take on as part of the context and meaning of his crucifixion. This attri-
bution of responsibility of the displacement of sin (and presumably evil as well) to
Jesus on the cross, is apparently the Christian insight to perhaps the indicative pur-
pose in the first place, even of Jesus’ appearance in the world.
The classic text, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, by
the widely known Episcopal priest, The Reverend Fleming Rutledge [also a per-
sonal friend], who is priest, lecturer, preacher, and teacher, has presented this issue
of sin (in the theological framework) as such a purpose of Jesus’ birth and therefore
why he appeared on this earth. The “why” of it concerns, as Rutledge states: “The
grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin (2015, p. 204). Reverend
Rutledge also states: “….it is not possible to have a grasp of one’s own involvement
in sin without a prior or simultaneous awareness of God’s prevenient love (preve-
nient meaning “going before” p. 168).
Apparently, this means that God’s purpose─essentially with the advent of Jesus’
appearance─is the referenced purpose of overcoming sin through the cross of Christ
(meaning Christ’s crucifixion). Rutledge continues in her wonderful passion and in
eloquently declaring that “….human repentance is not powerful enough or thorough
enough or dependable enough to deliver the human race from wrong” (p. 172).
Another implication is that this difference between a dependence on repentance
alone correspondingly also creates a partition between Christianity and Judaism in
the theology and meanings given to sin─and its solution. This particular issue of
repentance, Christianity, Judaism, and God, shall be further examined herein, in the
body of this book.
The point is that as far as sin is concerned, Christian theology asserts that Jesus
died for our sins (or sin), and that the remedy for sin is focused on the agency of God
and not particularly focused on the self. Rutledge continues by stating: “The cruci-
fixion is therefore understood to be Christ’s victory over the powers of Sin and
Death, [and I assume, evil as well]─commonly identified as: Christus Victor”
(p. 181).
In other words, the New Testament is a testament of the Christian belief that
Jesus’ death is essentially about sin, that is, as Rutledge puts it, “….witness to Jesus’
death for sin” (p. 193). Thus, apparently this is the Christian message regarding the
meaning of the crucifixion, that is to say, that the power to remedy the situation in
the world and in the human response to various vicissitudes of the world (such as sin
and evil) requires, as Rutledge poignantly puts it,
The entire sphere of power as to be invaded from the outside, from another sphere where
Sin and Death have no sway (p. 192).
With this brief introduction to Rutledge’s powerful, eloquent, and committed
loving passion regarding the meaning of the Cross, here I arrive with a rather pro-
saic perspective from a secular, scientific, as well as a stone-cold atheistic point of