Religiousness – Between Defence Mechanism and Consciousness

A Study Based on Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism

Keywords: Freud, Moses and Monotheism, Religiousness, Trauma, Ecclesiogenic Neurosis

Abstract

According to Sigmund Freud, the emergence of Judaism should be associated with the murder of Moses, which the Hebrews allegedly committed against their leader. This thesis, which the psychoanalyst takes over from Ernst Sellin, became the basis for his reflections on trauma, which is the source of religious neurosis experienced by man. This paper attempts to show that the basis of neuroses related to religiousness should not be seen in the traumatic events related to the time of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, as Freud wanted, but in the individual approach of a person to religion and in the internal conflicts he or she experiences.

Author Biography

Michał Powęska, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

Assistant Professor at the Institute of Theological Sciences of the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lublin. In 2021, at the same university, he defended his doctoral dissertation entitled Sapiencjalne tło chrystologicznych metafor wina, wody i chleba w Ewangelii Janowej. Studium intertekstualne [The Sapiential Background of the Christological Metaphors of Wine, Water and Bread in the Gospel of John. An intertextual study] with distinction. He is the author of several scientific articles and co-editor of a collective work. His scientific research revolves around the exegesis of the Gospel of John, the psychology of biblical characters and issues related to intertextual analysis.

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Published
2024-06-29
How to Cite
[1]
Powęska, M. 2024. Religiousness – Between Defence Mechanism and Consciousness: A Study Based on Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism. Perspectives on Culture. 45, 2 (Jun. 2024), 433-446. DOI:https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2024.4502.31.