The Healing Spirit: Explorations in Religion and Psychotherapy

This book was originally published as "The Healing Zone," which appears atop the even numbered pages as a header. To Fleischman, religion is a structural aspect of personality, of discovery vs. philosophy and science. The author describes ten issues of import in the psychological community: Witnessed Significance, Lawful Order, Affirming Acceptance, Calling, Membership, Release, Worldwiew, Human Love, Sacrifice, and Meaningful Death. The book is written in a succinct style. All sophisticated vocabulary is defined or explained. The data is derived from actual cases. Witnessed significance will aid in self-esteem. He then shows how lawful order has been variously interpreted. The need for lawful order matures into empiricism and grows into morality and ethics. There is much about comparative religion, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American philosophy. Other Psychologists mentioned throughout the text are Freud, Jung, Buber, Erik Erikson, and Kubler-Ross. We are offered various approaches to psychotherapy. This book is recommended to all involved with pastoral counseling and those studying varied psychological philosophies of the those studied. An index adds to the value of this monograph.