Women and Sacrifice: Male Narcissism and the Psychology of Religion

"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 reviews the theories of symbol-formation of Freud, Jung, Klein, and Winnicott and argues that Kohut's self-psychology is more appropriate for understanding the psychology of symbolic ritual. The psychological claims in the book are presented in the context of social structures, cultural expressions, and individual and group history. Beers includes critiques of such leading theorists of ritual and sacrifice as Durkheim, Levi-Strauss, Douglas, Turner, Geertz, Freud, Jung, and Girard." "In analyzing sacrifice among the Malekulans of Melanesia and the eucharist of the American Episcopal Church, Beers develops the theory that such rituals have a psychological function that diminishes and controls women. He claims that men so fear women that religious ritual excludes women in order that men can gain and retain power over them."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved