Feinstein, Howard M. “The Prepared Heart: A Comparative Study of Puritan Theology and Psychoanalysis.”

Feinstein, Howard M. “The Prepared Heart: A Comparative Study of Puritan Theology and Psychoanalysis.” American Quarterly 22.2.1 (1970): 166-176.

The author provides a very convincing comparison of the Puritan method of preparation for salvation and Freud’s technique of psychoanalysis. To do this, he uses William Perkins’ 10 stages of Puritan preparation and places them next too the stages of psychoanalysis put forward by Freud and Karl Menninger. Near the end, Feinstein discusses the differences between the religious and secular ideas focusing on the goals and the focus on self. In the end, both the author and I wonder if the links between these two ideas are part of the reason that psychoanalysis was adopted so easily into American culture. Links like these, how Puritan thought has influenced the country and shaped ideas that one would never think of are worth further inquiry.

Bib of Note:

Morgan, Edmund S., Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea Ithaca, NY: 1965.
Miller, Perry, Errand Into the Wilderness New York: 1964.