Insanity and Divinity

John Gale is a former Benedictine monk who later trained as a psychotherapist and is now CEO of the charity Community Housing and Therapy. He is particularly interested in the interface between philosophy, spirituality and psychoanalysis.Michael Robson is the Director of Studies in Divinity at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. He is the author of a number of books and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Francis of Assisi.Georgia Rapsomatioti is a community mental health advocate who previously worked at Community Housing and Therapy as deputy manager at Lexham House and senior therapist at Highams Lodge. She has an interest in Lacanian psychoanalysis, trauma and psychosis.

• Dedication. Contents. Editor’s Biographies. Editors and Contributors. Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. Part 1: Psychoanalysis, Belief and Mysticism. Gale, Fragments of Madness and Delusion. Gale, From Beyond Speech to Non-inscription – Sprirt and Psyche in the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis. Mannu, Freud Madness and the Delusion of Religious Belief. Mackenna, Jung’s Divine Madness. Part 2: Anthropology, History and Hagiography. Gale, Conversion and the Fragmented Body. Cantlie, Divine Madness: Tantris Ascetics on the Cremation Ground in Tarapith, Birbhum District, West Bengal. Robson, Models of Wisdom and Sanctity: The Conversion of Saint Francis of Assisi. Reddy, Spiritual Conversion in the Bhagavad-Gita. Gale, Did Augustine Foreshadow Psychoanalysis? Bomford, Mystical Theology, Mysticism and Madness. Part 3: Psychology, Psychosis and Religious Experience. Gale, Religion, Spirituality and the Experience of Psychosis. Rapsomatioti, Spirituality and the Psychotic Subject in the Thought of Lacan. Autobiographical Accounts of a Religious Psychosis. Unterrainer, Dimensions of Religious/Spiritual Well-being and the Psychotic Experience: Empirical Results and Perspectives. Appendix. Glossary of Lacanian Terms.

"...[T]he greatest strength of the book is its multiplicity of perspectives on the topic. In particular, several chapters mine the riches of psychoanalytic literature in good depth, highlighting insights to the uninitiated that speak to the opaque lines that distinguish spirituality and insanity. Included in this discussion are authors who dismiss the significance of religious belief and experience in psychosis (e.g., Freud) as well as those who affirm it and lay the groundwork for future discussions to take place (e.g., Lacan)." – David C. Wang & Annette Chan, PsycCRITIQUES