Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия I. Богословие, философия (Oct 2014)
The reception of classical psychoanalysis in the Russian religious thought and the modern psychoanalytic theories of religion
Abstract
The author considers the principal moments of the understanding of religion in psychoanalysis as perceived by Russian thinkers of the first half and the middle of the 20th century. The author indicates the conditions and context of the perception of psychoanalysis in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the main contiguity points shared by the psychoanalytic understanding of religion and its treatment by the Russian symbolists, mainly by Vyacheslav Ivanov. He proceeds to consider the perception and criticism of psychoanalysis off ered by Russian thinkers of the fi rst half and the middle of the 20th century: Father P. Florensky, N. A. Berdyayev, S. L. Frank, B. P. Vysheslavtsev and S. A. Levitsky. The final part of the article contains conclusions bearing on the general meaning of this perception and its potential signifi cance for the Russian psychology of religion. Beyond any doubt, Russian philosophers have managed to enrich their understanding of religion by making use of the attainments of psychoanalysis. They have productively used even such ideas as had been conceived by the founder of psychoanalysis as instrumental in criticizing religion. Alongside repetition of the ideas common in the criticism of psychoanalysis, they have put forward a number of original arguments proceeding from an immanent analysis of psychoanalytical ideas indicative of the internal problems that exist in the psychoanalytical approach to religion. They have also outlined ways of overcoming them within the framework of Christian thought. In a number of cases they have evidently foreshadowed the interpretation of psychoanalytical doctrines in Western Christian thought.
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