Religion and Psychoanalysis

 

Course Outline:

 

W Jan 21:  Syllabus, Expectations, Grading

 

Readings and Assignments

Readings are due for the day
on which they are listed

 



Freud and Classical Psychoanalysis

F Jan 23: Overview of the Course

 



 


Introducing Psychoanalysis

M Jan 26: What is Psychoanalysis (1)?


Central Concepts: The dynamic unconscious, defense, free association, transference and resistance.

 

                   Case: Gloria

 

M&B: Preface; pp. 1-8

 

W Jan 28: What is Psychoanalysis (2)?


Central Concepts:  recollection, repetition, and working through.

 

Freud, S. (1910) “Observations on 'Wild Psycho-analysis’” (e-res)

 

Freud (1914), “Recollection, Repetition, and Working Through”(e-res)

 

F Jan 30:  No Class (faculty retreat)

 

 

 

Dreams, Psyche and Symbols

M Feb 2:  Dreams I

 

Central Concepts: The topographical model,
manifest and latent content
 

M&B, ch. 1, pp. 8-10


Freud, S.  On Dreams, chs. 1-5

 

Writing Assignment 1: A Dream Analysis

Due Feb 18

 

W Feb 4: Dreams II
 

Central Concepts: Symbolization and the dream work

 

Freud, S.  On Dreams, chs. 6-13

F Feb 6:  Dreams III

 

 

M&B, ch. 1, pp. 10-22

 

 

 

 

M Feb 9: Contemporary Dream Samples

Central Concepts: Drives

 

 

 

W Feb 11: From Topography to Structure
 
Central Concepts: The structural model
and the Oedipus complex
 

 

F Feb 13: Review of Major Concepts and
                Discussion of Dream Papers.

 

 

 

 

Freud on Religion

F Feb 16: Why are we religious?

 

 

Freud, “A Religious Experience”

Download Here

 

W Feb 18:  Oedipal Origins: Does religion emerge from incestuous desires and murderous fantasies?

 

Freud, Totem and Taboo, ch. 4, parts 5-7

Download Here

 

Writing Assignment 1 Due in Class

 

F Feb 20:  Another Freud: Does Freud recognize earlier, pre-Oedipal sources of religion?

 

Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, ch. 1

Download Here

 

 

 

Religion and Madness: A Literary Case Study

M Feb 23:  Equus, Scene One
 
Case: Alan Strang

 

Shafer, P. Equus, scene one

 

Note card and Discussion Assignment: Equus Act 1

 

Writing Assignment 2: Equus: A Dialogue

Due March 9

 

M Feb 23 Evening: Screening of Equus


8:00 PM to 10:30

Library 321

 

Attendance at the screening is required

Please come on time

The film runs for 2.5 hours

W Feb 25:  Equus, Scene Two

 

Case: Alan Strang

 

Shafer, P. Equus, scene two

 

Note card and Discussion Assignment:

Equus Act 2

 

 

F Feb 27: Equus, Scene Two

 

Case: Martin Dysart

 

 







A Neo-Freudian and A Hindu Saint:

Klein & Ramakrishna

 

M Mar 2:   The Paranoid-Schizoid Position

Case: Rachel

 

 M&B, ch. 4.

 

W Mar 4: The Depressive Position

 

 

F Mar 6: Envy and Projective Identification

 

 

 

M Mar 9: Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and

                   the Goddess Kali

Kripal, J. “Kali’s Sword: Anxious Desire and the First Vision” (e-res)

Download Here

 

W Mar 11:  A comparative analysis of the text

                   using Freud and Klein

 

 

F Mar 14: Midterm Exam

 

List of Topics and Info about the Midterm

 

 

Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes

 

M Mar 23: No Class

 

 

 

W Mar 25: Introducing Carl Jung

Video:

The Wisdom of the Dream

 

 

F Mar 27:  The “Objective Psyche” and the Collective Unconscious

 

Jung, Man and his Symbols (MHS) ch. 1, pp. 1-45.

 

Assignment for Monday: Go to the link below and take the Jung Typology Test to determine your particular type.  Then print out the page that tells you your type and go on to read at least two of the links about your type. Bring the printout and be prepared to describe your results in class.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

 

 

M Mar 30:  Types and Archetypes

MHS, pp. 45-94

 

 

 

Individuation

W Apr 1: Approaching the Unconscious;

                   Encountering the Shadow.

 

MHS, ch 3, pp. 159-185

F Apr 3:  Anima and Animus

 

 

 

MHS, pp. 185-207

 

 

M Apr 6: No class

 

 

W Apr 8: Individuation and the Self

 

 

MHS, pp. 207-254

F Apr 10: The Meaning of Myth

 

Segal, Jung on Mythology, "Making Life Meaningful," p. 94 - 97, and "Myths of the Hero," p. 145-164 (handout).

 

The Meanings of Myth

M Apr 13: The Myth of the Hero

 

Video: The Power of Myth:

Volume 1: The Hero's Journey

 


Writing Assignment 3: Jungian Analysis

Due April 20

W Apr 15: The Myth of the Hero (2)

 

Discussion of Segal, Jung on Mythology, "Myths of the Hero," p. 145-164 (above).

 

W Apr 17:  Jung’s interpretation of Christ

 

Jung, C.G. “Christ: A Symbol of the Self”

(download here)

 

 

M Apr 20: A Jungian Analysis of a Buddhist Text: The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation

 

Jung’s Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (download here)

 

Object Relations Theory
Winnicott

W Apr 22:  False Self Disorder

 

M&B, ch 5, pp. 112-114, 124-134

 

 

F Apr 24:  Transitional Experience

 

Cases: Peter and Doris

 

Rizzuto, A.  “God, the Enigma”

 

M Apr 27:  God as Inner Object

 

Case: Daniel Miller

 

Writing Assignment 4:

Due May 4

(Please leave a hard copy in the tray

outside of my office)

 

W Apr 29:  Religion and the Imagination: Paul Pruyser

 

Pruyser, P. “Forms and Functions of the Imagination in Religion”

(download here)

 

F May 1:  Discussion

 

 

 

 

M May 11: Final Exam.

2:00 – 4:15 pm

 

List of Topics and Info about the Final

 

 

 

 

Assignments and Grading

 

Writing Assignments (4)................. 400 (100 per assignment)

Portfolio.......................................... 100

Midterm Exam................................ 200

Final Exam...................................... 200

Participation................................... 100

 

Final Grade Values
1000 Points Possible


920 to 1000 = A

  900 to 919 = A-

  880 to 899 = B+

  820 to 879 = B

  800 to 819 = B-

  780 to 799 = C+

 


720 to 779 = C

700 to 719 = C-

680 to 699 = D+

620 to 679 = D

600 to 619 = D-

599 & below = F

 

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