Psychology As Religion

by Vitz, Paul C.

• ISBN13: 9780802807250
• ISBN10: 0802807259
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-01
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

Psychology as Religion delivers a trenchant analysis of modern psychology - an enterprise that author Paul C. Vitz maintains has become a religion, a secular cult or self, now part of the problem of modern life rather than part of its resolution.

Table of Contents

About This Book
The Major Theorists	p. 1
Carl Jung	p. 2
Erich Fromm	p. 4
Carl Rogers	p. 7
Abraham Maslow	p. 10
Rollo May and Existential Philosophy	p. 11
Self-Theory for Everybody	p. 15
Self-Esteem	p. 15
The Self-Serving Bias	p. 20
Encounter Groups	p. 22
Recovery Groups	p. 24
Self-Helpers	p. 25
est and Forum	p. 26
Self-Help Sex	p. 28
Selfism as Bad Science	p. 32
Psychiatry, Biology, and Experimental Psychology	p. 33
Are We Intrinsically All That Good?	p. 42
From a Philosophical Point of View	p. 47
A Question of Definitions	p. 47
The Empty Self	p. 49
A Basic Contradiction	p. 51
Browning's Critique	p. 54
Ethical and Scientific Misrepresentations	p. 55
Selfism and the Family	p. 57
The Isolated Individual	p. 57
Self-Theory and Divorce	p. 59
Parents as the Source of Our Troubles	p. 60
Christianity and the Family	p. 65
Self-Theory and the Schools	p. 68
Values Clarification	p. 68
Self-Theory Again	p. 70
A Philosophical Critique	p. 72
A Critique of Procedures and Strategies	p. 74
Research Evaluating Values Clarification	p. 76
A Violation of Privacy Critique	p. 78
Why Has Values Clarification Been So Popular?	p. 81
Conclusion: Why Values Clarification Must Be Rejected	p. 82
Selfism and Today's Society	p. 84
A Creed for the Youth and Yuppie Culture	p. 84
A Nation of Victims	p. 85
Selfism and Language	p. 87
Psychology for a Consumer Society	p. 89
Selfism and Christianity: Historical Antecedents	p. 95
Feuerbach	p. 95
American Sources	p. 97
Fosdick and Peale	p. 99
Pietism	p. 103
The Special Case of Carl Rogers	p. 105
Psychology and the New Age Movement	p. 111
Social and Economic Support for New Age	p. 115
Psychological Origins of New Age	p. 117
New Age as a New Gnosticism	p. 121
New Age Spirituality: From Psychological to Spiritual Self-Worship	p. 123
A Christian Critique	p. 126
Selfism as Idolatry	p. 126
The Problem of Depression	p. 130
The Problem of the Human Doormat	p. 131
Christian Love and Selfist Love	p. 132
Creativity and the Creator	p. 138
The Nature of Suffering	p. 139
A Political Response	p. 142
The Problem for Psychology	p. 142
The Problem for Christianity	p. 144
Beyond the Secular Self	p. 151
The Bias in Being "Objective"	p. 151
The Object's Revenge	p. 154
The Dilemma of Existential Narcissism	p. 155
Escape from the Self	p. 158
A New Christian Future?	p. 163
The End of Modern Heroism	p. 163
The Failure of Careerism	p. 164
The Tribalist Temptation	p. 166
The Emerging Opportunity	p. 167
Index	p. 169
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.