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PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion & the Holy Book
With 2,000 religious denominations and nearly 500,000 churches and temples in the United States, the Bible is not only doctrinally confusing, but behaviorally confusing, too. Is it a sin to drink alcohol? Will prayer cure the sick? Is homosexuality an abomination? Why is celibacy so highly valued? Do belief and feminism mix? How should the Passion be interpreted? In this enlightening and entertaining work, Armando Favazza, a world-renowned psychiatrist specializing in culture and society, explores these and other questions and examines the impact of the Bible on behavior through time and space—from the Holy Book's gradual formation thousands of years ago to the present day. This is an indispensable work for all those interested in better understanding the foundations of society's—and perhaps even their own—beliefs and behaviors, and is a thought-provoking read for those not afraid to inform their faith.
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 22, 2011
This book turned into quite a slog for me. I was expecting, or at least hoping for, a book like those by neurologist Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, etc.) Sacks examines what he knows best: neurological case studies, and he sometimes draws broader conclusions and shares deeper thoughts spurred by the fascinating anecdotes drawn from his own practice.
Favazza has written a critique of the Bible, not a psychiatric examination of the Bible's rules of behavior or an evaluation of the impact of the Bible on his psychiatric cases, and I was ultimately disappointed that there was so much (anti-) "Bible" and not much "Psycho" in the book.
And I began to doubt his authority as a Bible debunker after three incorrect citations of Bible verses in the first 31 pages, including attributing "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" as the 32nd Psalm, not the 23rd. Is dyslexia to blame? A sloppy editor? At that point, I stopped compulsively double-checking his citations. I just didn't care anymore.
Favazza admits he did not have an especially religious upbringing, and that psychiatrists in general have little truck with religious beliefs. His curiosity about the Bible is driven by the fact that so many of his patients tell him that religion is very important to them. He is a "cultural psychiatrist" and he seems to regard his patients as a strange tribe that requires anthropological study. He says in the preface "I was amazed that even in Columbia, a fairly sophisticated small city, about half of my patients had an active, meaningful religious life."
Favazza also seems willfully ignorant about why a rational, thinking person would willingly choose to study the Bible for moral guidance. For example, he calls the Book of Job "perhaps the most intellectually stimulating and theologically troubling" book of the Bible, yet, after just a few paragraphs he dismisses the book of Job as "the bible's problem child" and says "there is no truly plausible understanding of its meaning." The Book of Job isn't easy, but I think it's rather flip to say it's meaningless or hopelessly implausible.
I wouldn't be the first person to admit that the Bible's rules of behavior can be apparently contradictory, thoroughly confusing and interpreted in wildly diverging ways. But I find it thoroughly ironic that anyone would hold up the psychoanalytic theories of Freud as a superior method of interpretation of the human condition!
So, while I appreciated much of the information he provided about the Bible, I was ultimately skeptical of its accuracy. I wished he had offered more psychological insights about moral behavior and the origins of the universal religious impulse.
Favazza has written a critique of the Bible, not a psychiatric examination of the Bible's rules of behavior or an evaluation of the impact of the Bible on his psychiatric cases, and I was ultimately disappointed that there was so much (anti-) "Bible" and not much "Psycho" in the book.
And I began to doubt his authority as a Bible debunker after three incorrect citations of Bible verses in the first 31 pages, including attributing "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" as the 32nd Psalm, not the 23rd. Is dyslexia to blame? A sloppy editor? At that point, I stopped compulsively double-checking his citations. I just didn't care anymore.
Favazza admits he did not have an especially religious upbringing, and that psychiatrists in general have little truck with religious beliefs. His curiosity about the Bible is driven by the fact that so many of his patients tell him that religion is very important to them. He is a "cultural psychiatrist" and he seems to regard his patients as a strange tribe that requires anthropological study. He says in the preface "I was amazed that even in Columbia, a fairly sophisticated small city, about half of my patients had an active, meaningful religious life."
Favazza also seems willfully ignorant about why a rational, thinking person would willingly choose to study the Bible for moral guidance. For example, he calls the Book of Job "perhaps the most intellectually stimulating and theologically troubling" book of the Bible, yet, after just a few paragraphs he dismisses the book of Job as "the bible's problem child" and says "there is no truly plausible understanding of its meaning." The Book of Job isn't easy, but I think it's rather flip to say it's meaningless or hopelessly implausible.
I wouldn't be the first person to admit that the Bible's rules of behavior can be apparently contradictory, thoroughly confusing and interpreted in wildly diverging ways. But I find it thoroughly ironic that anyone would hold up the psychoanalytic theories of Freud as a superior method of interpretation of the human condition!
So, while I appreciated much of the information he provided about the Bible, I was ultimately skeptical of its accuracy. I wished he had offered more psychological insights about moral behavior and the origins of the universal religious impulse.
June 6, 2008
Interesting book, but pretty heady. LOTS of information in this book about the history of the Bible and many of its stories and characters, as well as the various meanings of its myths and parables and how they have been seen/understood through the ages. Not sure I'd recommend it, but certainly wouldn't recommend AGAINST reading it...
May 7, 2009
I only bought this because it is written by someone from the University of Missouri. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been on my radar. While it's an interesting, intriguing concept, it is dense and overpowering with information.
July 11, 2014
Amazing book. An intellectual view of the legacy that religion plays in our lives. I recommend this to anyone wanting to dig deeper into the history of the Christian religion, but this book isn't for the faint of heart.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews