Description: Renowned psychoanalytic philosopher Richard Boothby puts forward a novel theory of religion inspired by Jacques Lacan's theory of das Ding. The book offers the theoretical tools for interpreting religious belief and analyzes several faith traditions.
Review Quotes: "In this exceptional feat of scholarship, Boothby presents nothing less than a new psychoanalytic account of religion, which is likely to become a touchstone for all future considerations of the religious experience. Pitting Lacan against Freud, Boothby liberates religion from its unconscious place as a defensive illusion to which Freud had allocated it and reappraises its redemptive function for humanity's relation with Otherness, as it is encountered in fellow human beings and in oneself. In the process, it is not only the function of religion and the sacred that is being formulated anew, but the foundation of psychoanalysis itself. Deeply learned yet consistently accessible, this book is a genuine triumph of innovative, creative thinking and will appeal to a very broad readership." --Dany Nobus, author of Critique of Psychoanalytic Reason: Studies in Lacanian Theory and Practice