Freud and Jung on Religion

251 Pages·2003·1.939 MB·English

by  Michael Palmer

FREUD AND JUNG ON RELIGION
It is generally held that, within the history of psychology, the two most impor-
tant and influential theories of religion are those presented by Freud and
Jung. This work provides for both lay reader and specialist alike a clear and
detailed account of both theories.
The book is divided into two separate and self-contained sections. In the first
section the author examines Freud’s notorious claim that religion is an
obsessional neurosis, a psychological illness fuelled by sexual repression.
Beginning with a short biographical sketch, Dr Palmer traces the
development of Freud’s argument through the books he devoted to religion—
most notably Totem and Taboo and The Future of an Illusion—and through
his controversial case studies such as the Rat Man and Judge Schreber.
The second section considers Jung’s rejection of Freud’s sexual theory and the
construction of his own much more positive assessment of religion. Jung
asserts that it is the absence of religion, not its presence, which leads to
neurosis—a claim which he supports by his own controversial ideas: the
structure of the psyche, the collective unconscious, archetypes and
individuation. Both sections conclude with Palmer’s own stimulating critique
of the arguments presented.
Based on a series of lectures given at the University of Bristol, Freud and Jung
on Religion is written in an accessible style and presumes no previous
knowledge of either Freud or Jung. The book is a major contribution within
the fields of psychology and religion and essential reading for all those
concerned with the contemporary debates between these two disciplines.
Michael Palmer is Academic Tutor in the School of Theology at Westminster
College, Oxford. A former Teaching Fellow at McMaster and Humboldt
Fellow at Marburg, he was for many years Head of the Department of
Religion and Philosophy at Manchester Grammar School. Dr Palmer is the
author of Paul Tillich’s Philosophy of Art (1984), Moral Problems (1991) and
co-editor of the six-volumed Paul Tillich: Main Works (1988–1992).

FREUD AND JUNG
ON RELIGION
Michael Palmer
London and New York
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1997 Michael Palmer
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“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.”
Disclaimer: For copyright reasons, some images in the original version of this book
are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
The author has asserted the moral right to be identified as
the author of this work
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
Palmer, Michael F.
Freud and Jung on religion/Michael Palmer.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Psychoanalysis and religion. 2. Freud, Sigmund,
1856–1939—Religion. 3. Jung, C.G. (Carl Gustav),
1875–1961—Religion.
I. Title.
BF175.4.R44P35 1997
200'.1'9–dc21 96–51720
ISBN 0-203-44080-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-74904-9 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-14746-8 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-14747-6 (pbk)
For my wife
Carol

CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Part I Sigmund Freud: psychoanalysis and religion
1 INTRODUCTION 3
A short biography 3
Religion as neurosis: repression and the Oedipus complex 12
2 TOTEM AND TABOO 18
Totem and Taboo (1913) 18
The primal horde theory: two additions 26
Summary 30
3 RELIGION AND ILLUSION 33
The Future of an Illusion (1927); Civilization and Its
Discontents (1930) 33
Moses and Monotheism (1939) 41
Conclusion: the value of religion 46
4 FORMS OF RELIGIOUS NEUROSIS 50
Theodor Reik: couvade and the fear of retaliation 51
Two case-studies: The Wolf Man; Judge Schreher 53
5 A CRITICAL APPRAISAL 60
Some general criticisms 61
Malinowski’s criticism of Freud 64
Freud’s male concept of God 70
Illusion and object-relations theory 71
Freud on science and religion 75
Freud and the genetic fallacy 79
vii
CONTENTS
Part II Carl Gustav Jung: analytical psychology and religion
6 INTRODUCTION 85
A short biography 85
7 THE STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE 93
The primordial images of the collective unconscious 95
The energic concept of the libido 101
Some differences between Freud and Jung on religion 108
8 GOD AS ARCHETYPE OF THE COLLECTIVE
UNCONSCIOUS 113
The archetypes of the collective unconscious 114
God as archetypal form 123
God as archetypal contents 128
The nature of religious experience 137
9 GOD AND INDIVIDUATION 142
The process of individuation 143
The two stages of individuation 147
Individuation: God and the self 150
The problem of evil 154
Individuation and images of God 156
Conclusion 164
10 A CRITICAL APPRAISAL 166
Jung’s methodology 168
The theory of archetypes 172
Archetypes and the argument from common consent 181
Archetypes and revelation 184
Archetypes and individuation 187
Conclusion 194
Notes: Freud 197
Notes: Jung 206
Bibliography: Freud 219
Bibliography: Jung 224
Index of names 229
Index of subjects: Freud 233
Index of subjects: Jung 236
viii
FOREWORD
This book began life as a series of lectures delivered over a number of years in
the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of
Bristol. Since the original title of the series was ‘Darwin and Freud,’ Jung
made only a brief appearance; but gradually, and prompted by my students,
this situation changed to the point where Jung had largely usurped Darwin’s
position. Not that this was entirely unexpected. If Freud’s attack on religion is
justly famous, then Jung’s defence of it is no less celebrated. They remain, in
this area at least, the two great protagonists.
This book is not, however, a comparative study between two different
psychologies of religion. My primary intention has been to provide two
separate accounts which will, I hope, stand on their own, and which will
therefore be of use to those seeking fairly detailed information about either
Freud or Jung. But here I should add a word of caution. Some comparisons
between Freud and Jung are inevitable and helpful, and I shall often make
them. One of these, however, should be stated at the beginning. This is
between Freud’s clarity and Jung’s all too frequent lack of it. With that in
mind, I have often used a summary of Freud’s position to clarify Jung’s. This
has inevitably upset the balance between the two parts of this work: the
shorter section on Freud contains next to nothing on Jung, but the longer
section on Jung contains a good deal on Freud. This is not done to establish
Freud’s historical or conceptual priority—which Jungians would certainly
protest about—but solely in order to overcome, or at least ameliorate, the
notorious complexities of Jung’s thought. In Jung’s case, I have also taken the
small liberty of highlighting important concepts by the use of a capital
letter—hence Self, Persona, Anima, and so on. Again, there is no textual
warrant for this, and it is done solely to aid comprehension.
Various other matters should be mentioned here. In attempting to cut the
two sections of this book down to manageable size, I have had to make some
omissions. I do not, for example, go into all the ramifications of Freud’s
account of the aetiology of hysteria and symptom-formation, and I have only
made passing reference to Jung’s theory of complexes and his analysis of
attitude and function types. Nor do I go into details about the various
ix