Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience by W. W. Meissner, S.J., M.D. (review)

490 BOOK REVIEWS care. This work contends that one of the criteria which would allow a patient to refuse medical treatment is that the patient be unable to cope with the treatments for the reason that they are too burdensome. This formulation could cause confusion as a clear distinction between the subjective capabilities of the patient and the objective characteristics of the treatments was not drawn. And further confusion could result from the failure to clarify what it is that constitutes a treatment as burdensome. Burdensome treatments are those which cause or are associated with such conditions that they are beyond the common and ordinary capabilities of persons to tolerate. These treatments require an exercise of extraordinary or heroic fortitude, and therefore they cannot be made obligatory . There are burdens and risks that are common and ordinary, and it can be expected and demanded that ordinary persons tolerate these burdens. But others are so radical and extreme that only persons of rare and uncommon fortitude can tolerate them, and even for them, there is no moral guilt incurred if they should choose to refuse to tolerate them. If a definition of this nature was proposed by the working party, more light might have been shed on this difllcult problem. This work is of value in that it is a clear and concise statement of the substantial arguments and principles to be made against euthanasia. It also presents a clear and up-to-date picture of the practice of euthanasia in the English-speaking world. More works from this working party are planned, and they should be eagerly awaited, for their quality should be quite superior. Euthanasia and Olinical Practice: Trends, Principles and Alternatives is of great value of health care professionals who are in need of a brief and clear statement of the Church's teachings on euthanasia. And moralists and theologians who are interested in this issue will find the picture of current p:ractices of euthanasia to be enlightening . Pope John XXIII Oenter St. Louis, Missouri RoBERT L. BARRY, O.P. Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience, W .W. MEISSNER, S.J., M.D.; New Haven, Yale University Press, 1984; pp. 244 with index. $25.00. The title of this book, "Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience ", should rather read, "Religious Experience and Psychoanalysis", since the subject directly discussed is religious experience, and psychoanalysis is only the investigative tool. Perhaps the reason for inverting what would ordinarily be chosen as the appropriate .order is to emphasize the func- BOOK REVIEWS 491 tfon of the tool-that psychoanalysis provides uniquely effective devices for understanding religion. The author, priest and psychoanalyst, has been researching and publishing on the interface between psychoanalysis and religion for more than twenty years. This, his latest opus, is intended to move the status quaestionis several steps further towards a mutually more beneficial interaction between Freudian theorists 'and Christian theologians. During the past thirty or more years, the climate of psychoanalytic/theological diitlogue has ripened to a degree, with attitudes on both sides of the issues expanding and compenetrating. Theologians are more aware of the darker, less tractable sides of human nature; psychoanalysts have expanded their systematic accounts to embrace the freer, more responsible dimensions of the mind. Fr. Meissner sums up the advances that have been obtained, presents some thoughtful analysis of issues that profit from a cross-disciplinary exchange, and points to future directions. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Freud's works on religion, especially " The Future of an IDusion", are re-examined, with closer attention to the inner dynamics of Freud's own personal attitudes , how they emerged out of his early life experiences and how they influenced his later conceptualizations and evaluations. Reading this section of the book, one can get the impression that Freud's writings are to be taken as a kind of scripture, to be interpreted and enlarged upon and modified in the light of broader perspectives, to be sure, but always to be taken reverent1ally, acknowledging a privileged position for them in the corpus of psychoanalytic literature. For non Freudians, this reverential concern can seem to lead to an over-investment of time and energy in...