Women and Sacrifice: Male Narcissism and the Psychology of Religion - Hardcover

Beers, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814323774 ISBN 13: 9780814323779

Publisher: Wayne State University Press, 1992

Synopsis

Women and Sacrifice is an original and lucid book that explores the anthropology and developmental psychology of male violence in blood sacrifice and its implications in religion and culture. It is the first comprehensive study of the psychology of gender and religion using the controversial ideas of Heinz Kohut and self-psychology.

Beers not only makes an important contribution to our psychological understanding of sacrifice, he explores how narcissistic anxiety fuels rituals and social structures that subordinate women. He bases his provocative theory on three general premises: sacrifice is traditionally performed only by men; the gender specificity of sacrifice can be traced to gender-specific developments of men and women and is reflected in religions throughout the world; and the male violence of sacrifice is related to other forms of male violence. Beers develops the theory that such rituals have a psychological function that diminishes and controls women.

About this title

Book Description:

Women and Sacrifice is an original and lucid book that explores the anthropology and developmental psychology of male violence in blood sacrifice and its implications in religion and culture.

About the Author:

William Beers is currently director of Chaplaincy Services at Rockville General Hospital, Rockville, Connecticut, and a member of the adjunct faculty in the Department of Sociology at the University of Connecticut. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0814323774
• ISBN 13: 9780814323779
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 205