14
Gender and Christianity in Modern Europe
A Clinical Anthropology of Hysteria in the Work of Freud and Lacan
Beyond the Feminization Thesis
Philippe Van Haute, Tomas Geyskens
Patrick Pasture & Jan Art (eds) case studies upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to christianity
€ 34,50 / £30.00 isbn 978 90 5867 911 6 04/2012 16 x 24 cm Paperback ca. 180 p. nur 777 Figures of the Unconscious 11
The different psychopathologic syndromes show in an exaggerated and caricatural manner the basic structures of human existence. These structures not only characterize psychopathology, but they also determine the highest forms of culture. This is the credo of Freud’s anthropology. This anthropology implies that humans are beings of the in-between. The human being is essentially tied up between pathology and culture, and there is no ‘normal position’ that can be defined in a theoretically convincing manner. The authors of this book call this Freudian anthropology a patho-analysis of existence or a clinical anthropology. This anthropology gives a new meaning to the Nietzschean dictum that the human being is a ‘sick animal’. Freud, and later Lacan, first developed this anthropological insight in relation to hysteria (in its relation to literature). This patho-analytic perspective progressively disappears in Freud’s texts after 1905. This book reveals the crucial moments of that development. In doing so, it becomes clear not only that Freud introduced the Oedipus complex much later than is usually assumed, but also that the theory of the Oedipus complex is irreconcilable with the project of a clinical anthropology. The authors not only examine the philosophical meaning of this thesis in the work of Freud. They also examine its avatars in the texts of Jacques Lacan and show how this project of a patho-analysis of existence inevitably obliges us to formulate a non-oedipal psychoanalytic anthropology.
English
Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this ‘thesis’ has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men. In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity. By presenting case studies that adopt different gendered approaches with regard to Christian, mainly Catholic discourses and practices, the authors capture multiple ‘feminizations’ and ‘masculinizations’ in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, it becomes clear that the idea that Christianity took on ‘charicteristically feminine’ values and practices cannot withstand the conclusion that what is considered ‘manly’ or ‘feminine’ depends on time, place, and context, and on the reasons why gendered metaphors are used. patrick pasture is associate professor in history at the University of Leuven, where he co-ordinates the research unit Modernity & Society 1800–2000 (MoSa). His research focuses on European labour history and the social history of Christianity in Europe and North America.
jan art retired as professor of history at the University of Ghent in 2010. He has published widely on 19th and 20th century cultural and religious history, social science methodology in history, and psychohistory.
contributors Angela Berlis (University of Berne), Thomas Buerman (University of Gent), Marjet Derks (Radboud University Nijmegen), Hugh McLeod (University of Birmingham), Marit
philippe van haute is professor of philosophical anthropology at the University of Nijmegen
Monteiro (Radboud University Nijmegen), Michael E. O’Sullivan (Marist College Poughkeepsie,
and a practising psychoanalyst (Belgian School for Psychoanalysis).
NY), Patrick Pasture (University of Leuven), Bernhard Schneider (University of Trier), Marieke
tomas geyskens is doctor in philosophy and a practising psychoanalyst (Belgian School for
Smulders (Radboud University Nijmegen), Tine Van Osselaer (Fund for Scientific Research-
Psychoanalysis).
Flanders).
Previously published in the series Figures of the Unconscious
Also published in the series kadoc–Studies on Religion, Culture and Society
•
Sexuality and Psychoanalysis. Philosophical Criticisms
Christian Masculinity. Men and Religion in Northern Europe in the 19th
Jens De Vleminck, Eran Dorfman (eds)
and 20th Centuries
€ 39,50 / £35.00, isbn 978 90 5867 844 7, October 2010, English
Yvonne Maria Werner (ed)
Deleuze and Psychoanalysis. Philosophical Essays on Deleuze’s Debate with Psychoanalysis
€ 39,50 / £35.00, isbn 978 90 5867 873 7, June 2011, English
•
Leen De Bolle (ed.) € 29,50 / £26.00, isbn 978 90 5867 796 9, April 2010, English
15
Religion
Philosophy / Psychoanalysis
A Non-Oedipal Psychoanalysis?
€ 39,50 / £35.00 isbn 978 90 5867 912 3 06/2012 17 x 23,8 cm Paperback 256 p. nur 704 kadoc-Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 10 English
