Psychology – the conversation about the psyche – and Theology – the conversation about the Divine – have had a long and intimate relationship with each other. We shall explore this relationship. In particular we shall examine historical notions of self, psyche and soul and relate them to the investigations of theologians and psychologists in contemporary setting.
As well as giving a historical framework to terms such as ‘soul’, ‘psyche’ and ‘spirit’, we will present students with some of the key schools of thought and figures that have shaped contemporary applications of the terms.
Material covered will include:
- Origins of the terms ‘soul’, ‘psyche’ and ‘spirit’ in classical and early Christian usage;
- Medieval understandings of the self especially in the Western mystical tradition;
- Freud, Jung and the 20th Century psychoanalytic schools;
- Reconciling the two traditions in the contemporary world and the re-emergence of ‘soul-language’ in contemporary psychology.