Good God?!?: Lamentations as a Model for Mourning the Loss of the Good God

This article will address the devastating psychological and social effects due to the loss of one's primary love-object, namely God in the case of faith communities and religious individuals. By using Melanie Klein's Object Relations Theory (Klein in Envy and gratitude and other works 1946...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Main Author: Houck-Loomis, Tiffany (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [2012]
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B Loss
B Lamentations
B Projection
B Exile
B Object Relations Theory
B Trauma
B Splitting
B Melanie Klein
B Evil
B Introjection
B Healing
B Mourning
B Community
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:This article will address the devastating psychological and social effects due to the loss of one's primary love-object, namely God in the case of faith communities and religious individuals. By using Melanie Klein's Object Relations Theory (Klein in Envy and gratitude and other works 1946/1963. The Free Press, New York, 1975a) as a way to enter the text of Lamentations, I will articulate an alternative reading that can serve as a model for Pastors and Educators to use when walking with individuals and communities through unspeakable losses. I will argue that Lamentations may be used as a tool for naming confounding depression and anxiety that stems from a damaged introjected object (one's personal God). This tool may provide individuals and communities a framework for placing anger and contempt upon God in order to re-assimilate this loved yet hated object, eventually leading toward healing and restoration of the self.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-012-9581-1