Abstract
Our work at the interface of psychology and religion can proceed in two complementary directions. When reading a psychological theory, (1) we may pay special attention to how certain concepts in particular, and the system of ideas as a whole, are being or might be used to interpret religious phenomena. We may focus on how those ideas may be involved in doing “psychology of religion”: the psychological interpretation of religious phenomena. Alternatively, (2) we may pay special attention to how certain concepts in particular, and the system of ideas as a whole, are being or might be used, either implicitly or explicitly, to make claims about “human nature,” about the meaning and purpose of life, about “God.” We may identify the “psychology as religion-theology”: psychological ideas potentially functioning in a religious-theological manner. I will illustrate this by: (a) examining D. W. Winnicott's article, “Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena” (1953/1986) in terms of three successive concepts or categories: transitional object, transitional phenomena, and “a third intermediate area of experiencing”; (b) considering how these categories can be used in psychology “of” religion; (c) reconsidering how the “psychological” categories may function “as” religious-theological. The discussion is intended to illustrate how we might more fully appreciate how and why a psychological theory may “work” well in doing psychology of religion when we more fully appreciate how that psychology implicitly functions as theology.
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Schlauch, C.R. Illustrating two complementary enterprises at the interface of psychology and religion through reading Winnicott. Pastoral Psychol 39, 47–63 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01037183
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01037183