Desacralizing Life and its Mystery: The Jonah Complex Revisited
This paper reexamines the psychological conditions giving rise to the temptation to run away from social responsibilities and personal growth (the “Jonah complex”). Abraham Maslow is here criticized for his self-actualization theory and his narrow interpretation of the Jonah complex. He sees the lat...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publishing
1982
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| In: |
Journal of psychology and theology
Year: 1982, Volume: 10, Issue: 2, Pages: 113-119 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper reexamines the psychological conditions giving rise to the temptation to run away from social responsibilities and personal growth (the “Jonah complex”). Abraham Maslow is here criticized for his self-actualization theory and his narrow interpretation of the Jonah complex. He sees the latter as a fear of God-like possibilities in ourselves but does not connect it to a rejection of the universal moral imperative to love and respect all that lives. It is argued that what lies at the roots of the Jonah Complex are two basic psychological prods: The first is the fear of death, and the second is the desacralization of life and the trivialization of its meaning. |
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| ISSN: | 2328-1162 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of psychology and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/009164718201000202 |