Beyond Belief: Psychotherapy and Religion

The burden once put upon natural scientists is here shouldered by psychotherapists. This book asks whether psychotherapy can go beyond belief and gives various answers from a wide variety of people and their differing perspectives.'Whilst making a circuitous and muddled way through the dilemmas inherent in both the overlap and conflict between psychotherapy and religion, I read in one of Charles Rycroft's works of a book called The God I Want (1967) by James Mitchell. It comprised a series of short essays of the same title by analysts, authors, theologians and others describing their approach to religion and their own personal theology. It was thought provoking to read of the religious dilemmas faced by other people, as well as of how they had resolved them. However, whilst Rycroft's own contribution (as an analyst) to the book was very helpful, others drawn from fields outside psychoanalysis were less so. An additional problem was that Mitchell's publication was over thirty years old, no longer in print and rarely available.' Stimulated by my own personal experiences, I developed the idea to collate a series of similar and up-to-date essays written by psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists on the interaction between psychotherapy and religion. Perhaps in doing this I would come to understand how others with an overlapping interest in both psychotherapy and religion had come to decide on a way forward that was personally acceptable and satisfying.'- Samuel Stein, From the Introduction

About the Author :
Samuel M. Stein is a South African psychologist and psychoanalyst. He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and currently works as a consultant in Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry. He has maintained a longstanding interest in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and has written a number of articles within these fields. He has written and contributed to several works including 'Essentials of Psychotherapy' and 'Psychotherapy in Practice: A life in the Mind'.

Review :
'The burden once put upon natural scientists is here shouldered by psychotherapists. We are invited to ask: "Can psychotherapy go beyond belief?" This collection of essays is a wonderfully varied set of answers by a wide range of people - from left-wing socialists to a clutch of ex-theologians, from psychiatrists to psychoanalysts, Jungians to Freudians, Jews to Catholics, agnostics to the devout. And how agreeable such an encompassing group seems to be when it comes to God. They write, almost without exception, with a serious sympathy, gently negotiated disagreements and reservations and an almost hallowed kind of honoring.'- Bob Hinshelwood, From the Foreword