Ana-Maria Rizzuto and the Psychoanalysis of Religion

Reviews / Votes

Goodman (Boston College) and Reineke (Univ. of Northern Iowa) have assembled a fine collection of essays related to the pioneering work of psychoanalyst Ana-Maria Rizzuto, whose book The Birth of the Living God (1981) transformed the way psychoanalysis approached the topic of religion. The present collection of six essays is in many ways an homage to that book's empirical and clinical interrogation of how representations of God are elaborated over the life-span. Each essay explores a different facet of Rizzuto's contribution to the psychology of religion, considering such topics as atheism, the healing factor in psychotherapy, the therapeutic use of metaphor, and the maternal matrix. A discussion by Rizzuto follows each essay, lending the collection a fresh dialogic dimension. These essays will serve as the best commentary on Rizzuto's important work to date, and will provide clinicians and scholars with material for further speculation on the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion. The interdisciplinary nature of the collection will serve as a model for future scholarship in the fields of religious studies, psychology, and psychotherapy.

Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * Choice Reviews * The book is a model of how to advance important discussions not in lockstep, but with gracious respect when people differ, as several commentators do with parts of Rizzuto's thought and work. The first two chapters are extremely useful introductions to the wide applications of Rizzuto's work. . . . this is a valuable and insightful book with skillfully presented material. The editors and contributors are to be congratulated. * Logos: Journal Of Eastern Christian Studies * If there was ever a Hall of Fame for thinkers in the psychology of religion, this book would be a strong vote for Rizzuto's election. The authors' deep respect for Rizzuto is evident and the book shines in situating the importance of her work in the psychology of religion that today can be dominated by an empirical bias that tends to be atheoretical and atheological. Perhaps the hidden gem of the book is that Rizzuto herself comments on every chapter. While she is gracious and grateful to the authors, she is also correcting and clarifying. One can almost sense Rizzuto's personality in her responses and it is easy to imagine this powerful woman who had the intellectual courage take on Freud, psychoanalysis, and the psychology of religion. * Reading Religion * The present volume, a Festschrift honoring Rizzuto's continuing influence, is well worth reading in and of itself . . . . one of the real gifts of this volume is Rizzuto's own responses to each chapter. Rizzuto answers the questions raised by the various authors, sometimes in considerable detail, offering up-to-date definitional and conceptual clarifications directly from Rizzuto's own ongoing work. All of the insights offered in this volume have continuing relevance for the practice of spiritual care today, perhaps even moreso in the pluralistic and interfaith context where much spiritual care is practiced. * The Journal Of Pastoral Care and Counseling * The book has the freshness of interactive dialogues that cross, connect and weave themselves between Rizzuto and a Freud she admires and defies, and between her and the different authors, providing the reader with a true feast of interdisciplinary thinking. The fecundity of Rizzuto's work is demonstrated by the diversity of new developments it has given rise to in both theoretical and clinical psychoanalysis. This intellectually fascinating experience motivates the reader to rethink spirituality, religion and contemporary culture, leaving us wondering about the representation of God underlying new atheisms and the violent religious fundamentalisms of our century. -- Alicia Zanotti de Savanti, emerita, Ponticia Universidad Catolica Argentina Ana-Maria Rizzuto is an essential figure in the psychoanalytical approach to the religious fact and in the understanding of the origin and development of God images. Being a witness to her dialogue about her work with some major figures in the field is a gift for which we should be thankful to the publisher. Clinical practice and theory come together in this volume in an unsurpassable way, mutually shedding light on and enriching each other. -- Carlos Dominguez-Morano, University of Granada Reineke and Goodman have gathered a stellar group of scholars and clinicians to honor the thirty-fifth anniversary of Ana-Maria Rizzuto's groundbreaking publication, The Birth of the Living God. Confirming the impact and ongoing significance of the work of the 'mother' of the psychoanalytic study of religious experience, contributors examine Rizzuto's personal history and cultural backstory; apply her insights in case studies and personal reflections; tease apart cultural tensions between faith and reason, reality and illusion; and extend her legacy through explorations of atheism, belief maintenance, and the maternal matrix underlying personal and cultural fears of monsters. Rizzuto is powerfully present within the volume, commenting insightfully on each essay. A tour de force, this impressive compilation will provide rich resources for future psychoanalytic explorations of religion. -- Diane Jonte-Pace, Santa Clara University Ana-Maria Rizzuto and the Psychoanalysis of Religion will become the classic text about a classic text. The material here will enrich the work of the clinician and deepen the thinking of the scholar. A crucial read for anyone concerned with psychotherapy and religion, contemporary psychoanalysis, and/or the study of religion or who wants to understand the psychological sources of religious beliefs. -- James W. Jones, Rutgers University