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Abby and Patrick sit down with religious studies scholar and Reformation historian Nathan Rein to discuss Freud’s “Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices” (1907). This is Freud’s first extended treatment of religion as such, with a particular emphasis on ritual, and, in classic Freudian style, sees him provocatively linking individual symptoms with broader cultural formations. But what does Freud mean by “religion” anyway, in relation to his Jewish heritage on the one hand and his overwhelmingly Catholic Austrian milieu on the other? What can looking at the nuances of Freud’s German reveal about his understanding of what we would today call obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)? What are we to make of his account of individual “obsessional neuroses” as a kind of “private suffering” versus the collective work done by shared public rituals, and how does that bear on Freud’s ideas about the origins of our beliefs and, per Freud, our “ignorance” about them? And what is the character of Freud’s feelings about religion – is his just a stance of disillusionment, or is it tinged by a more personal ambivalence, perhaps even one that’s particularly recognizable this holiday season? Plus: Martin Luther’s bowel troubles, the importance of respecting Melusine’s boundaries, and objections to Christmas standards at church dances from an unexpected source.

Texts discussed include:

Sigmund Freud, “Religious Actions and Obsessive Practices.”

Donald Capps, Freud and Freudians on Religion: A Reader. Yale University Press, 2001.

Christopher Alan Lewis and Kate M. Loewenthal, editors. “Religion and Obsessionality: Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices,” a special volume of Mental Health, Religion & Culture, February 2018, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2018.1481192.

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Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices

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