Hearing visions and seeing voices : psychological aspects of biblical concepts and personalities

This book’s aim is to enrich and deepen our psychological understanding of biblical concepts and personalities. Such understanding is relevant for theology as well as for psychology and psychiatry. It may help theologians to contextualize their discipline by bringing it into contact with contemporary psychological and existential issues and tensions, both at an individual and a societal level. It also encourages psychologists and psychiatrists to develop and refine their vocabularies when they try to comprehend the existential meaning of what is transmitted to them by their clients. The book highlights the concepts of prophecy, martyrdom, and messianism from Christian and Judaic perspectives. Each concept offers one biblical figure as representative: Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus, respectively. The sections on these three subjects and personalities are sandwiched between a section on historical and conceptual issues, and a section devoted to select interdisciplinary issues. Biblical images of pain, anguish, suffering, hope, resentment, and awe are part of our cultural background and shape the way we understand our lives and sufferings. Biblical perspectives on human existence, on the other hand, differ in some important respects from modernist conceptions that prevail in psychotherapy and psychiatry. The book investigates the possibility of a theological criticism on common frameworks of psychological and psychiatric understanding of the inner world of the client. It also offers new ways to understand the ‘transformative’ power of religion. Introduction To Historical And Conceptual Issues / Gerrit Glas -- Psychiatry And Religion: An Unconsummated Marriage / Herman Van Praag -- Biblical Narratives As History: Biblical Persons As Objects Of Historical Faith / C. Stephen Evans -- Introduction To Prophecy: Theological And Psychological Aspects / Gerrit Glas -- The Dynamics Of Prophecy In The Writings Of Abraham Joshua Heschel / Neil Gillman -- The Prophets As Persons / Bob Becking -- Jeremiah Interpreted: A Rabbinic Analysis Of The Prophet / Bryna Jocheved Levy -- Introduction To Martyrdom: Theological And Psychological Aspects / Gerrit Glas -- Martyrdom: Theological And Psychological Aspects. Martyrdom In Judaism / Hyam Maccoby -- The Martyrdom Of Paul / Jakob Van Bruggen -- Spiritual, Human, And Psychological Dimensions / Msngr. H.w.m. Tájirá. Introduction To Messianism: Theological And Psychological Aspects / Gerrit Glas -- Casting A Psychological Look On Jesus The Marginal Jew / Antoine Vergote -- The Land Of Israel: Desire And Dread In Jewish Literature / Aviezer Ravitzky -- The Person Of Jesus / Abraham Van De Beek -- Imagining Jesus: To Portray Or Betray? Psycho (-patho)logical Aspects Of Attempts To Discuss The Historical Individual / Peter J. Verhagen -- Introduction To Interdisciplinary Issues: Prospects For The Future / Gerrit Glas -- The Hidden Subject Of Job: Mirroring And The Anguish Of Interminable Desire / Moshe Halevi Spero -- Biblical Themes In Psychiatric Practice: Implications For Psychopathology And Psychotherapy / Samuel Pfeifer -- The Bible And Psychology: New Directions In Biblical Scholarship / Wayne G. Rollins -- Searching For The Dynamic 'within'. Concluding Remarks On 'psychological Aspects Of Biblical Concepts And Personalities' / Gerrit Glas. Edited By Gerrit Glas ... [et Al.]. Based On Papers Presented At The Conference, Psychological Aspects Of Biblical Concepts And Persons Held In Amsterdam, March 4-6, 2002. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction to historical and conceptual issues / Gerrit Glas -- Psychiatry and religion: an unconsummated marriage / Herman van Praag -- Biblical narratives as history: biblical persons as objects of historical faith / C. Stephen Evans -- Introduction to prophecy: theological and psychological aspects / Gerrit Glas -- The dynamics of prophecy in the writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel / Neil Gillman -- The prophets as persons / Bob Becking -- Jeremiah interpreted: a rabbinic analysis of the prophet / Bryna Jocheved Levy -- Introduction to martyrdom: theological and psychological aspects / Gerrit Glas -- Martyrdom: theological and psychological aspects. Martyrdom in Judaism / Hyam Maccoby -- The martyrdom of Paul / Jakob van Bruggen -- Spiritual, human, and psychological dimensions / Msngr. H.W.M. Tájirá. Introduction to messianism: theological and psychological aspects / Gerrit Glas -- Casting a psychological look on Jesus the marginal Jew / Antoine Vergote -- The land of Israel: desire and dread in Jewish literature / Aviezer Ravitzky -- The person of Jesus / Abraham van de Beek -- Imagining Jesus: to portray or betray? Psycho (-patho)logical aspects of attempts to discuss the historical individual / Peter J. Verhagen -- Introduction to interdisciplinary issues: prospects for the future / Gerrit Glas -- The hidden subject of Job: mirroring and the anguish of interminable desire / Moshe Halevi Spero -- Biblical themes in psychiatric practice: implications for psychopathology and psychotherapy / Samuel Pfeifer -- The bible and psychology: new directions in biblical scholarship / Wayne G. Rollins -- Searching for the dynamic 'within'. Concluding remarks on 'psychological aspects of biblical concepts and personalities' / Gerrit Glas The chapters in this book are based on papers that were presented at the international conference Psychological Aspects of Biblical Concepts and Persons, 4–6 March 2002 in Amsterdam. The conference was organized by the Dutch Foundation for Psychiatry and Re- gion (in Dutch: Stichting Psychiatrie en Religie) a small, but active and lively organization, which organizes conferences and post-graduate education for mental health professionals and which offers a platform for interdisciplinary research and discussion in the field of mental health and religion. The organizers of the conference – Gerrit Glas, Herman M. van Praag, and Peter J. Verhagen – are m- bers of the board of the Foundation. All three are psychiatrists; two of them are also professionally occupied in another discipline: theology (Verhagen) and philosophy (Glas). The primary aim of the conference was to create a space for scientific dialogue between two disciplines with a troubled and complex relationship: psychiatry and theology. The exchange of opinions and viewpoints between specifically these two fields has dried up in the course of the past century and has virtually been absent from around 1960 till at least the early nineties of the previous century. I need to clarify that we were quite specific in isolating theology and psychiatry; instead of focusing on theology and psychology, or biblical studies and psychology, or theology and psychoanalysis. Psychology and psychoanalysis do not seem to have lost all contact with theology, at least not to such an extent as have psychiatry and theology. Front Matter....Pages I-XVII Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction to Historical and Conceptual Issues....Pages 3-7 Psychiatry and Religion....Pages 9-19 Biblical Narratives as History....Pages 21-34 Front Matter....Pages 35-35 Introduction to , Prophecy ....Pages 37-40 The Dynamics of Prophecy in the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel....Pages 41-51 The Prophets as Persons....Pages 53-63 Jeremiah Interpreted....Pages 65-85 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Introduction to Martyrdom....Pages 89-92 Martyrdom....Pages 93-104 The Martyrdom of Paul....Pages 105-113 Spiritual, Human, and Psychological Dimensions of St. Paul’s Martyrdom....Pages 115-124 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Introduction to Messianism....Pages 127-131 Casting a Psychological Look on Jesus the Marginal Jew....Pages 133-151 The Land of Israel....Pages 153-168 The Person of Jesus....Pages 169-181 Imagining Jesus: To Portray or Betray?....Pages 183-204 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Introduction to Interdisciplinary Issues....Pages 207-212 The Hidden Subject of Job....Pages 213-266 Biblical Themes in Psychiatric Practice....Pages 267-277 The Bible and Psychology....Pages 279-293 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Searching For The Dynamic ‘Within’....Pages 295-310 Back Matter....Pages 311-323 This books aim is to enrich and deepen our psychological understanding of biblical concepts and personalities. The book contains masterful analysis of biblical personalities, such as Job, Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus. It may help theologians to contextualize their discipline by bringing it into contact with contemporary psychological and existential issues and tensions, both at an individual and a societal level.