NDLI: A Religious Experience: A Psychological Interpretation of Kevin Kelly’s Conversion to Christianity

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Carlin, Nathan
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	This paper, presented at the Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology meeting in October 2012, uses the work of Sigmund Freud and Donald Capps to interpret a religious experience. The religious experience—a narrative about being born again—is recounted from the first story on the first episode of the radio program This American Life, which focuses on the religious conversion of Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine. Using Freud’s “A Religious Experience” as a model for interpretation, I employ psychoanalytic ideas (such as the castration complex) to provide an initial reading of the experience, and I then use Capps’s work on male melancholia and on life cycle theory to further the interpretation. I argue that this young man’s religious experience is reflective of what Capps calls “the religion of honor” and “the religion of hope”; that the timing of his religious experience can be understood by means of life cycle theory; and that, theologically speaking, his experience can be understood using the language of the spirit and the soul.
Starting Page	587
Ending Page	605
Page Count	19
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00312789
Journal	Pastoral Psychology
Volume Number	62
Issue Number	5
e-ISSN	15736679
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2013-01-19
Publisher Place	Boston
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Kevin Kelly This American Life Sigmund Freud Donald Capps Religious conversion Born again experience Male melancholia Life cycle theory Age twenty-seven club Age thirty transition The castration complex Clinical Psychology Religious Studies Cross Cultural Psychology Sociology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Sociology and Political Science Religious Studies Social Psychology Applied Psychology

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Male Melancholia, Identity-Loss, and Religion

Subversive Friendship

Merton’s Melancholia: Mother, Monasticism, and the Religion of Honor

A Review of Donald Capps’s At Home in the World

Unrepressing the Kingdom: Pastoral Theology as Aesthetic Imagination

Aesthetic Interdisciplinarity in Donald Capps’ Weltanschauung

1 the psychology of atheism.

Zombie Alleluias: Learning to Live in the Space Between Worlds

In Search of a More Reliable Truth: Mourning and Donald Capps’s Psychological Portrait of Jesus

A Religious Experience: A Psychological Interpretation of Kevin Kelly’s Conversion to Christianity

Similar Documents

Male Melancholia, Identity-Loss, and Religion

Subversive Friendship

Merton’s Melancholia: Mother, Monasticism, and the Religion of Honor

A Review of Donald Capps’s At Home in the World

Unrepressing the Kingdom: Pastoral Theology as Aesthetic Imagination

Aesthetic Interdisciplinarity in Donald Capps’ Weltanschauung

1 the psychology of atheism.

Zombie Alleluias: Learning to Live in the Space Between Worlds

In Search of a More Reliable Truth: Mourning and Donald Capps’s Psychological Portrait of Jesus

A Religious Experience: A Psychological Interpretation of Kevin Kelly’s Conversion to Christianity