Seeing God in Our Birth Experiences: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry into Pre and Perinatal Religious Development.

The book explores the evolutionary roots of religious belief by linking prenatal and perinatal experiences to the origins of unconscious underpinnings of our shared images of God. It poses a ground-breaking paradigm by thinking about our earliest images of God within a psychoanalytic framework, comparing and contrasting the thought of Freud and Rizzuto. It looks at the issue of images of God from a diversity of psychological perspectives, including attachment theory, developmental theory, and bio-psychosocial perspectives, and concludes that uterine and birth experiences can predispose individuals to form God representations later in life.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The study of the evolutionary origins of religious belief has gained significant attention in recent years, with scholars striving to understand the underlying human desire to seek the supernatural and divine. This book offers a fresh and innovative perspective on this topic by exploring the connection between prenatal and perinatal experiences and the emergence of these unconscious underpinnings of our shared images of God.

The book challenges traditional perspectives by considering our earliest images of God within a psychoanalytic framework, comparing and contrasting the ideas of Freud and Rizzuto. It examines the issue of images of God from various psychological perspectives, including attachment theory, developmental theory, and bio-psychosocial perspectives. Through this comprehensive analysis, the book reaches a groundbreaking conclusion: that, similar to postnatal findings, uterine and birth experiences can predispose individuals to form God representations later in life, influenced by underlying affective and environmental factors.

This is a daring exploration of one of humanity's most fundamental aspects. As such, it holds immense interest for scholars engaged in the psychology of religion, psychology, psychoanalysis, religious studies, and early infant development. The book provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between early experiences, psychological development, and the formation of religious beliefs, shedding light on the deep-rooted mechanisms that shape our understanding of the divine.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367517557