The Unconscious God

Book by Viktor Frankl
978-0671220990Preceded byThe Doctor and the Soul 

The Unconscious God (German: Der Unbewußte Gott) is a book by Viktor E. Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist and founder of Logotherapy. The book was the subject of his dissertation for a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1948.[1]

The Unconscious God is an examination of the relation of psychology and religion.

Key ideas

The term "the unconscious God" refers to a "hidden relationship with the hidden God".[2]

In his work, Frankl advocates for the use of the Socratic dialogue or "self-discovery discourse" to be used with clients to get in touch with their "Noetic" (or spiritual) unconscious.[3]

Human religiousness is a deeply individual decision, and aligns with the process of discovering meaning in even the most difficult of situations.

In comparing Protestant ministers and parishioners, Frankl contends that a mature involvement with a religious group increases the sense of purpose in life.[4]

Published editions

Frankl's book was originally published as Der Unbewußte Gott[5] by Ehrlich Schmidt in 1943;[citation needed] the English language version was published by Simon & Schuster in 1975 under the title The Unconscious God: Psychotherapy and Theology.

References

  1. ^ Boeree, George. "Personality Theories: Viktor Frankl." Shippensburg University. Accessed April 18, 2014.
  2. ^ Fuller, Andrew Reid. Psychology and religion: Eight points of view. Rowman & Littlefield, 1994.
  3. ^ Lantz, James E. "Family logotherapy." Contemporary Family Therapy 8, no. 2 (1986): 124-135.
  4. ^ Weinstein, Lawrence, and Charalambos C. Cleanthous. "A comparison of protestant ministers and parishioners on expressed purpose in life and intrinsic religious motivation." Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior (1996).
  5. ^ Moore, Hallie E. "The Unconscious God: Psychotherapy and Theology." American Journal of Psychiatry 134, no. 11 (1977): 1317-b.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Logotherapy
People
  • Viktor Frankl
  • Joseph Fabry
  • Elisabeth Lukas
Ideas and terms
  • Dimensional ontology
  • Existential frustration
  • Hyperintention
  • Noogenic neurosis
  • Paradoxical intention
  • Tragic triad
  • Tragic optimism
  • Will to meaning
Books and publications
Locations
  • v
  • t
  • e
Psychiatry
Subspecialties
Organizations
Related topics
Lists
  • v
  • t
  • e
Basic
psychology
stylized letter psi
Applied
psychology
Methodologies
Concepts
  • Wilhelm Wundt
  • William James
  • Ivan Pavlov
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Edward Thorndike
  • Carl Jung
  • John B. Watson
  • Clark L. Hull
  • Kurt Lewin
  • Jean Piaget
  • Gordon Allport
  • J. P. Guilford
  • Carl Rogers
  • Erik Erikson
  • B. F. Skinner
  • Donald O. Hebb
  • Ernest Hilgard
  • Harry Harlow
  • Raymond Cattell
  • Abraham Maslow
  • Neal E. Miller
  • Jerome Bruner
  • Donald T. Campbell
  • Hans Eysenck
  • Herbert A. Simon
  • David McClelland
  • Leon Festinger
  • George A. Miller
  • Richard Lazarus
  • Stanley Schachter
  • Robert Zajonc
  • Albert Bandura
  • Roger Brown
  • Endel Tulving
  • Lawrence Kohlberg
  • Noam Chomsky
  • Ulric Neisser
  • Jerome Kagan
  • Walter Mischel
  • Elliot Aronson
  • Daniel Kahneman
  • Paul Ekman
  • Michael Posner
  • Amos Tversky
  • Bruce McEwen
  • Larry Squire
  • Richard E. Nisbett
  • Martin Seligman
  • Ed Diener
  • Shelley E. Taylor
  • John Anderson
  • Ronald C. Kessler
  • Joseph E. LeDoux
  • Richard Davidson
  • Susan Fiske
  • Roy Baumeister
  • Lists
    • Wiktionary definition
    • Wiktionary category
    • Wikisource
    • Wikimedia Commons
    • Wikiquote
    • Wikinews
    • Wikibooks