Abstract
As a psychoanalytic thinker who offered by means of his “self psychology” a new paradigm of psychological development and functioning, Heinz Kohut was also a theologian manqué. With the help of the method of interpretation devised by Paul Tillich and David Tracy, Kohut's “limit-concepts” of “tragic man,” the “self-object,” and “empathy,” all set within his theory of narcissism, are elucidated as theological constructs. These are critiqued for adequacy from a Christian perspective. The conclusion is that Kohut's understanding of the human dilemma and of the way of salvation correlates well with Christianity, while his view of empathy as the means of salvation has created some confusion. Kohut has thus left an unfinished, profoundly important, agenda for theologians and clinicians.
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Gorday, P.J. The Self Psychology of Heinz Kohut: What's It All About Theologically?. Pastoral Psychology 48, 445–467 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021336420315
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021336420315