Freud and the American physician's religious experience

Bibliographic Data

ID19505145
AuthorsJanette Graetz Simmonds (0000-0003-0259-4095, Monash University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume9
Issue4
Pages401-405
Publication date2006-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMental Health Religion & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-4676 • E-ISSN: 1469-9737
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13694670500370519
OpenAlexW1997392113
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited2

Freud wrote a curious short paper at the end of 1927, the year in which his book, The future of an illusion was published. The paper is remarkable in that we as readers also have the evidence that Freud drew on, that is, a letter by an American physician unknown to Freud, detailing his religious experience. (This situation of having the same source material is not completely singular, as we also have access to Da Vinci's painting of the ‘Madonna and Child with Saint Anne’, the subject of a previous exercise by Freud (1910a Freud, S. 1910a. Leonardo Da Vinci and a memory of his childhood. S.E. 11, London: Hogarth Press. [Google Scholar]) in interpreting religious material in a reductive manner.) Having available the exact text that Freud used for his analysis enables a close examination of Freud's use of the material. It becomes clear that in his analysis of the physician's experience, Freud makes a string of interpolations, breaking his own rules concerning wild analysis. It can also be seen from the paper how he ignores considerations of context and culture

Art · Art history · Freud's Psychoanalytic Theories · Illusion · Painting · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · SAINT · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Computer Science · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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