UMBR(a) 2005:

On Religion

Psychoanalysis has acknowledged the foolishness of any so-called "turn to
religion," reminding us that the religious has always been in the air.
Rather than defensively insist on religion?s spectrality, psychoanalysis
breaks with modernity?s political anxiety in exposing the material truth of
what is at stake: belief as such. To what extent does the well-trodden
intersection of psychoanalysis and religion, the unconscious and faith,
demand a radical break from the politics of resignation that has of late
dominated our political landscape?

Concerned with locating the impasses of desire, psychoanalysis is all the
more astute in exposing the excess of, and in, religion. We propose that
psychoanalysis allows this overabundance to be conceptualized, opening up
the possibility of change in a disaffected secular world. Could
psychoanalysis be called the redeemer of fantasy? What political
implications can be extracted from the structural resemblance between
Freud?s constructions of "historical truth," Lacan?s insistence on creation
ex nihilo, and the singularity of the religious act? Does psychoanalysis,
in its relation to messianic time, give us the opportunity to reveal an
immanence of truth that both religious believers and infidels continue to
disavow? Are there parallels to be found between the assiduity with which
psychoanalysis grounds the theological within politics and ethics, and the
intrinsic force that the moving image uses to cultivate belief within the
real of everyday existence? But most pertinently, can psychoanalysis move
us beyond war and the repetition of orgiastic violence that is currently
fueling the shared hatred between the monotheistic faiths, and the states
that support them?

UMBR(a): A Journal of the Unconscious is currently seeking articles that
address such issues. Submissions should be 1,500-6,000 words in length,
must be submitted on disk (MSWord) and in hard copy, and must be received
no later than December 1, 2004. Please send all submissions to:

UMBR(a)
c/o Andrew Skomra
Center for the Study of
Psychoanalysis and Culture
408 Clemens Hall
SUNY/Buffalo, North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-4610

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Received on Fri Sep 10 2004 - 14:28:53 EDT