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italics]. 26 Paternity as Function and Religious Experience reason")' the Church becomes the fertile mother "by taking the seed of divine life into its bosom." Thus, after the manner of Eve, the Church becomes the mother of all living beings. It becomes the Church of life.3 The role of the Church as a
of it. The fantasy of immortality in itself is not pathological (Lifton, 1973). On the contrary, it contributes to a healthy mental life that is characterized by creativity in the broadest sense of the word. 'Life is impoverished, it loses interest, when the highest stake in the game of living
superego aims destructive energy at aliveness, turns the latter against itself, absorbs or channels its power, add- ing life to destructive force. On a relatively superficial level, an individual may say, “Why bother living if you’re going to die.” The capture of aliveness by destructive energy is
vice versa, the attraction that theologically and socially more open groups have for those from backgrounds experienced as too structured, but there is also a “fit” between specific religious groups and the key theme in converts’ life 1 Raymond F. Paloutzian, Sebastian Murken, Heinz Streib & Sussan
findings of the structural-substantial analysis. Selected Case Studies 1 Todd Kruger (Conversion to Islam) His Life and Conversion Story In an almost empty family restaurant in a Midwestern town one morning, Todd Kruger talked about his life. Todd, a 58 year-old retired cook living in a medium
hide the impossible ideal of an existence without any difficulty, like a calm and smooth sea; the dream of a life under perfect control, and always the same. On the basis of experience gained from numerous psychological consultations, we note that this new form of Utopia, fed by the whole psychological
that they are destined for the priest- hood. Mental troubles can motivate people to turn to clerical life as an outlet for emotional problems. This may be the case for instance when celibacy becomes a cover-up for problems with sexuality and inti- macy. Some authors report that the number of mental
, but not too little tension in one's life; - the ability to deal with problems; - reading a satisfactory social life; - having a sufficient amount of feelings of happiness. Fortmann himself gives the following formulation: 'the ability (freedom!) to realize oneself (e.g. in work) and to lose
the relation between theory and method, cultural psychologist Carl Ratner uses the comparison with a paleontologist who finds a number and variety of footprints from which he goes to work to construct the struc- ture and the life habits of the animals that made them. Just as the paleon- tologist
origin behind at age 16 in search for a better life. He had always been a lonely person, because of his living by himself in the city at first, and later due to his brief, failed marriage. I also suspect that the beginning of retirement a few years prior to the conversion left an additional void in