Abstract

SEMINERIO, Franco Lo Prestí. Religion as a psychological process. Temas psicol. [online]. 1998, vol.6, n.2, pp. 161-172. ISSN 1413-389X.

The psychological determinants of the construction of religion are the core of this article. Starting with the basic anguish in the face of death and the limits of existence, we assess the belief and the illusion-desillusion dialectic meaning, as a inner equilibration, in the light of several perspectives. The unsolvable enigma is evaluated in terms of Kant's transcendental dialectics. Feuerbach's theory points out to the importance of the projection in the construction of myths. Starting wite M. Eliade we understand the decrease of the holy sense of the existence as the product of three painful renouncements. G. van der Leeuw's conception leads us to relate religious manifestations to two aspects: the animism as the father's personal will, the height of which is the monotheism; and the dynamism, expression of the mother's power with its apex at the pantheism. The article points out the importance of psychological determinants of the elaboration of religion.

Keywords : psychology of religion; history of the religions; imaginary.

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