Existential-Psychoanalytic Reflections on Belief and Being

Faith Amidst Ruins
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-21916-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 182 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 500 g

Existential-Psychoanalytic Reflections on Belief and Being offers an exploration of faith not as dogma but as a psychoanalytic and existential phenomenon.

Drawing from existential phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and theology, Brent Potter examines how individuals navigate despair, loss, and meaning-making today. This book engages deeply with thinkers such as Freud, Jung, Heidegger, Winnicott, Bion, Eigen, Tolkien, and Michael Heiser, weaving together clinical insights and philosophical reflections to offer an integrative approach to faith and human existence. This book argues that faith is not a belief in propositions but a form of lived trust. It is an ethical and emotional disposition that endures in the face of ambiguity. This book also explores the meaning and experience of faith in a world marked by psychological fragmentation, cultural upheaval, and existential crises.

Existential-Psychoanalytic Reflections on Belief and Being will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and pastoral counselors, as well as academics and scholars of theology, philosophy, existential psychology, and spirituality. It will also be relevant to anyone seeking to understand the complex interplay between psychological depth and spiritual meaning in the contemporary world.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Professional Practice & Development, and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Potter, Brent

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Soziallehre und Sozialethik, Pastoral und Seelsorge
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Seelsorge, Pastoraltheologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse Psychoanalyse (S. Freud)
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Christliches Leben & Praxis

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The Ashes of Meaning 2. Fragmented Foundations 3. Introduction: The Destructive Horizon of the Psyche 4. Bion’s Concept of Linking and Its Attack 5. The Collapse of the Modern Self 6. The Return of the Sacred in Ruin s 7. Memory, Myth, and Mourning 8. Winnicott, the True Self, and the Sacred Holding 9. Trauma and the Problem of the Psyche 10. Jung, the Shadow, and the Recovery of Depth 11. Bion, Eigen, and the Language of the Unspeakable 12. Tolkien and the Recovery of the Imaginal 13. The Path through Wreckage: Faith as a Form of Knowing 14. The Ethical Horizon of Ruin: Love, Responsibility, and the Other 15. The Silence between Worlds: When God, the Analyst, and the Self Withdraw 16. Despair as Threshold: Suicidality, Refusal, and the Cry for Meaning 17. The Return of the Symbol: Image, Memory, and the Recovery of the Soul 18. A Vocation from the Ashes: Becoming in a Time without Direction 19. Faith in Action: Toward a Ruined Ethics of Presence 20. The Way through the Ruins: Living Faithfully without Arrival 21. On the Nature of Evil in the Modern Soul 22. Trauma and the Eclipse of Meaning 23. The Lost Art of Lament 24. A Phenomenology of Anger 25. Healing through the Other: Levinas, Love, and the Face 26. The Sacred in the Secular: Finding God beyond the Walls 27. Language, Silence, and the Unspoken: The Limits of Speech and the Birth of Meaning 28. Time, Eternity, and the Slow Work of the Soul 29. The Hidden Wholeness: Fragmentation, Integration, and the Desire for Unity 30. Faith and the Fractured World: Bearing Witness in the Age of Collapse 31. The Analyst and the Altar: Toward a Theology of Depth 32. The Last Word Is Not the End: Toward a Hope beyond the Frame 33. Case Study: Hope’s Orphan 34. Clinical-Theological Commentary: Hope in the Abyss 35. Theodicy and the Shattered Psyche 36. The Human Condition: On Suffering, Meaning, and the Refusal of Despair 37. Conclusion: Notes on Tenderness 38. Where We Might Go: Themes and Hopes for Human Growth and Presence

Über Autor(innen)

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. Potter is recognized for pioneering theological psychoanalysis, integrating existential-phenomenological inquiry with Christian and psychoanalytic traditions.