葛西 賢太

Multiple developments in psychoanalysis have not sufficiently been followed up in the field of psychology of religion. Furthermore, the historical and psychological theories of religion developed by Sigmund Freud have not yet been assessed thoroughly. In this paper, an examination is made of one possibility of Freudian theory of religion which has previously been overlooked. The author begins by revealing what that possibility is, and then moves on to an examination of clinical studies conducted by one analyst engaged in work on this aspect of Freud's theory. In Freudian theory, the origin of the God representations of western civilization are traced either historically to the "memory trace" of an important ancient patricidal event or personally to the "sublimation of the father representation." This leads to a history of religions which focuses on the personal vicissitudes of the sublimation of the father representation. Freud supported his grand theory of the historical origin of God representations on his theory of developmental psychology, which was another contribution of Freud to psychoanalysis. Although there are few studies which focus on the vicissitudes (or development) of personal God representations, this should not be taken to indicate that an examination of this aspect of Freudian theory is unimportant. Until recently, Freud's theory of religion has not been taken as importantly as his other works, mainly because of the theoretical weaknesses of his grand historical theory. It is unfair to Freud to focus only on this aspect of his theory, and an examination must also be made of the personal developmental side of his history of religion. Ana-Maria Rizzuto, a psychoanalyst, tries to develop this side of Freudian theory. Though her developmental schema is based on Freud's, she has added some unique perspectives of her own. First, although Freud studied only the paternal origin of God representations, the clinical research of modern psychoanalysis indicates that much more influence comes from the mother and other family members. Secondly, if Freud's theories of the historical and personal origin of God representations are consistent, then it follows that everyone must have their own God representation. What then are we to make of unbelievers, whose existence Freud took for granted? Rizzuto's clinical studies take into account both of these new perspectives. An analysis of her clients'personal histories leads to an examination of their sublimation of parental representations into God representations. In these case studies an examination of the maternal origin of God representations can be made. Moreover, she theorizes on the developmental conditions which lead to unbelief based precisely on God representations, not on the lack of such representations. Her study, The Birth of the Living God (1979), has had much influence on the psychology of religion in the United States. This paper points out its significance for religious studies in Japan as well.

Christian Science is one of the much influencial religious sects in the modern United States, especially in the field of publishing and medicine. However, there can we find only few researches about its healing practice even in the United States, and, as a matter of course, in Japan. This is a study about the transition and development of the idea and the arts of the healing from the Harmonialism to Christian Science. In harmonialism I include mesmerism, homeopathy, hydropathy, etc. Harmonialism is defined as an unorganized religious movements, which understands that a person's harmonial rapport with cosmos (or God) has much influence on his/her spiritual composure and physical health. But other than "rapport", one more important motief of harmonialism can I show you. It is the conceptions of half-materialistic fluid (for example, "spiritual matter") as the media of rapport. Many students refer to Christian'Science as one of the cases of harmonialism. Perhaps it is true to their ideas of the psychosomatic causes of diseases, but Christian Science has neither conceptions of "rapport" nor that of materialistic fluid. The materialistic conceptions of fluid changes into a metaphysical conception of "divine Mind" of Christian Science. We can show you another same change as the transition of the conception of the fluid, in that of healing arts. The commonest arts of healing of harmonialism, especially in the case of mesmerism, are "therapeutic touch" or "rubbing", which is done to transmit the fluid into the affected body organ. But in Chrisitian Science, they had no conceptions about such fluid so there are no arts to pass the fluid. These two points also show where Christian Science is to the strand of harmonialism. And my study can be some critic to the tendency of the contemporary research of faith healing, which is apt to focus only on the thought or cause of healing.