Elements of Faith: Psychoanalytic Phenomenon and Lived Experience
Routledge (Verlag)
9781041099826 (ISBN)
This book investigates the multidimensional nature of faith as an existential and psychoanalytic phenomenon. Engaging with thinkers such as Heidegger, Bion, Kierkegaard, and Hillman, Brent Potter examines faith not as static belief but as a lived, dynamic structure of human experience. Drawing upon clinical work, especially the transformative therapeutic process with a patient named Sara, the book reveals how faith surfaces in moments of crisis, longing, and relational rupture. With careful attention to the Hebraic and Greek worldviews, the author provides insight into faith’s ethical, psychological, cultural, and theological contours. It is both scholarly and intimate—bridging theory and practice, ancient insight and modern struggle.
Elements of Faith enriches both theoretical and practical dimensions of psychoanalytic inquiry, and will be of great interest to psychoanalysts looking to explore faith within their practice. It will also appeal to mental health professionals, theologians, students of psychology and religion, and general readers interested in the intersection of faith and clinical practice.
Brent Potter is a psychoanalyst and author known for his work at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and faith. With over three decades of clinical experience, his writing explores the depths of human suffering, healing, and meaning through accessible yet profound existential and psychoanalytic inquiry.
Chapter 1: Echoes of An Opening
Introductory Comments
Faith Fragments
Navigating the Landscape
Chapter 2: Dimensions of Faith
The Essence of Faith
The Role of Sacred Texts: Anchors of Faith
Faith & Reason: A Delicate Balance
Faith & Ethics: A Moral Framework
The Hebraic Mindset: A Necessary Counterbalance
Storms of Meaning
Chapter 3: Faith in a Pluralistic World
Contours of Disruption: Faith Amid the They
Faith as a Catalyst for Change
Storms of Meaning
Faith & the Empirical Gaze
Chapter 4: Once, There Was a Longing…
Navigating the Boundaries of Faith
Roots On Fire: Faith Between Tradition & Change
Personal Belief & Collective Identity
The Evolution of Faith
Embracing the Mystery of Faith
Faith, Sense, & Sensibility
Chapter 5: A Clinical Case Study in Faith
Orientation to the Case Study
Author’s Perspective & Bias
Sara: Patient Information Summary
- Background
- Mental Health & Concerns
- Family & Relationships
- Coping & Boundaries
- Diagnostic Evaluation
- Current Focus & Treatment Goals
Chapter 6: The Psychoanalytic Process
Psychoanalytic Process
Rapport Building
Faith & Doubt
Goodness & the Black ‘Blah’
Toward a Transformed Sense of Self
- Dream 1: Confrontation with the Shadow
- Dream 2: Living, Loving, Legacy
- Balance & Bodyhood
- Dream 3: Invisible Supports
Rupture & Repair
Survival Technique, Organizing Principle
Sara's Journey: Opening Up & Finding Rhythm
Voice & Vulnerability
Processing Betrayal & Despair
Note on Catharsis
Reorienting to World
Growth
- A Pattern of Functional Failures
- Discovering Play & Aloneness
- Improvements in Mental Health &
Self-Understanding
Termination
Chapter 7: Psychoanalysis and the Sacred
On the Horizon of Contemporary Psychoanalysis
The Early Formation of Psychoanalysts
Training for Depth in an Age of Shallowness
Psychoanalysis in the Age of Technological Reductionism
The Recovery of Philosophical Depth
Reawakening Mystery in Contemporary Psychoanalysis
On Ethical Resistance and the Analyst’s Responsibility
A Future Worth Building
Psychoanalysis as Recovering
Human Being-in-the-World
The Analyst as Ethical Witness
Toward a Deepening Ethic of Care In Contemporary
Psychoanalysis
The Next Chapter of Psychoanalysis?
Chapter 8: Holding the Tension of the Opposites, Making Room
Beyond the Couch: Evolving Psychoanalytic
Horizons
Dwelling with the Human: Psychoanalysis
Beyond Technique
Állos & the Alientist: Estrangement, Otherness
Healing
Estrangement as Symbol & Signal
From Alienation to Alterity
Analyst as Alienist
References
| Erscheinungsdatum | 02.12.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Routledge Focus on Mental Health |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 138 x 216 mm |
| Gewicht | 350 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Psychoanalyse / Tiefenpsychologie |
| Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Sozialpädagogik | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-13 | 9781041099826 / 9781041099826 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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