1st Edition

Apophatic Elements in the Theory and Practice of Psychoanalysis Pseudo-Dionysius and C.G. Jung

By David Henderson Copyright 2014
184 Pages
by Routledge

184 Pages
by Routledge

184 Pages
by Routledge

How can the psychotherapist think about not knowing? Is psychoanalysis a contemplative practice? This book explores the possibility that there are resources in philosophy and theology which can help psychoanalysts and psychotherapists think more clearly about the unknown and the unknowable. The book applies the lens of apophasis to psychoanalysis, providing a detailed reading of apophasis in... Read more
1: Introduction 2: The Corpus Dionysiacum 3:Apophasis in Dionysius 4:Jung, Neoplatonism and Dionysius 5: The Opposites 6: The Transcendent Function 7: Jung and Contemporary Theories of Apophasis 8:The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Psychotherapy 9: Conclusion

Biography

David Henderson is Senior Lecturer in Psychoanalysis at the Centre for Psychoanalysis, Middlesex University, London, UK. He is an analytical psychotherapist working in private practice and a founder of the Association of Independent Psychotherapists, UK.

"I congratulate Henderson for a remarkable work of scholarship, and thank Routledge for making this available to a specialised audience"- David Tacey, La Tobe University, International Journal of Jungian Studies, 2014

"This original and learned book goes a long way to showing that Jungian psychoanalysis echoes the philosophical tradition of which Pseudo - Dionysius was a part."- Johannes A. Steenbuch, University of Copenhagen, The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 8 (2014) 231-262

"Henderson's command of Jung's corpus is equally useful, and ranges throughout Jung's works with ease and careful attention to the illustration of the many ways in which Jung used sources from the tradition. As the dialogue with the tradition that Jung engaged in is more fully understood and unpacked, Henderson's work will serve as an essential resource." - George B. Hogenson, Chicago Society of Jungian Analysis

"This is a highly significant book which recovers a long and deep tradition in Western Thought, and ties it to a context of modern psychoanalysis. It is a voyage which takes the author from Plato to Freud, and to Jung, but via the immensely important figure of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite." --Raoul Mortley, raoulmortley.com