Rizzuto and Freud

First, let us turn to Rizzuto’s and Freud’s perspectives on the parental origins of God representations. Rizzuto and Freud consider that the origins of God representations can be traced to early parental relations, but Rizzuto postulates that Freud underestimates the complexities of this derivation, especially the role of the mother. To what extent is Rizzuto right in agreeing with Freud? Is there any evidence to support the prenatal and perinatal origins of God representations? In relation to the structure of the book, Chapter 1 initially outlines the thinking about religion, religious and development. Then, there is an examination of Rizzuto’s and Freud’s views of the origins of images of God in relation to parental representations. The origins of images of God are examined through Augustine’s philosophy of mind alongside different perspectives about the nature of belief and cosmology. Freud and Rizzuto agreed that images of God stem from parental object relations yet disagreed on a number of other points, which are detailed here, including different theorists’ views, such as those by Klein, Bion, Erikson and Rank. For example, Erikson (1958) interpreted Luther’s relationship with his father and the subsequent change in his image of God following an identity crisis, which leads to him considering Freud’s thinking as being expressed in the Wolf Man case. On the other hand, Rizzuto advanced Freud’s focus on the father as the origins of religion, by acknowledging the influence of the mother in the formation of God representations.