Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
June 18, 2025
Martin Eleven
This article examines Wilfred R. Bion’s psychoanalysis in its unique interplay between epistemology and mysticism. It then explores the potential of Bion’s concept of O for an alternative understanding of religion within psychoanalysis and beyond. Rather than seeing religion as an archaic relic of human history, Bion makes it possible to understand the encounters with the numinous (the...
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
September 1, 2023
Edda Wolff
1 citation
Abstract This essay argues that a negative hermeneutics, i.e., a hermeneutics that takes its starting point from the experience of gaps, failures, and limits, is a suitable lens for the study of mysticism. It uses the concept of travail of the negative, which focuses on dynamics of a continuous ‘unsaying’ and ‘subverting’ of traditional expressions of faith and religious practice, to explore...
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
August 1, 2023
Bettina E. Schmidt, Kate J. Stockly
5 citations
Abstract This paper presents new research about spiritual experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to discuss the impact of spiritual experiences on people’s lives and relationships. Building upon William James’ four features of the “fruits” of religious experience as a conceptual frame, the paper presents data from two surveys in which participants narrated spiritual experiences...
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
August 1, 2023
J. Strube
This article scrutinizes the history of “esoteric” and “occult” as comparative terms and outlines a concrete methodology for their examination and potential practical application, based on the theoretical framework of Global Religious History. My main argument is that “esoteric” and “occult” are today de facto comparative terms that are employed worldwide within and beyond academia. Similar to...
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
December 6, 2022
Ugo Dessì
Abstract This article explores the Scuola di Meditazione (School of Meditation) established in Sardinia in 1983, one of the earliest instances in Italy of the use of ‘Eastern’ techniques by Roman Catholic religious professionals to promote the practice of meditation for lay people. Against the backdrop of ongoing religious diversification in the Italian context, this case study provides an...
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society
July 7, 2022
Georg Gröller
3 citations
Abstract The aim of this essay is to elaborate structural epistemological and ethical equivalences between mysticism and psychoanalysis. This allows us to make the central concerns of mysticism accessible to contemporary secular thought. The article is driven by two intentions: on the one hand, not to misunderstand mysticism as a moral enterprise of self-perfection, and on the other hand, to...