Antoine Vergote (8 December 1921 – 10 October 2013), also known as Antoon Vergote, was a Belgian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, theologian, philosopher, psychologist and psychoanalyst. He was an Emeritus Professor at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

. His extensive publications span multiple disciplines including

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication. ...

, philosophical anthropology, linguistics, theology, cultural anthropology, and

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

. Vergote has been acclaimed "the most eminent figure in the field of the psychology of religion"Aletti, M. (2012) My Concern with Psychology of Religion: Defending Psychology, Respecting Religion. In, Jacob A. Belzen, ''Psychology of Religion: Autobiographical Accounts'', p.23. Springer . and "a key figure" in European intellectual movements during the 20th century.Belzen, J.A. (2012) ''A real psychology of a real religion: Antoine Vergote turning 90 years of age''. In, Psicologia Della Religione - news. Convegno SIPR 2012 "Religione, spiritualità e cura di sé".

Early life

Antoine Vergote was born on 8 December 1921, in the Belgian city of Courtray in the Flemish province of

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

.Biographie d’Antoine Vergote
Théologie & psychanalyse. After receiving his graduate degrees from the University of Louvain in 1954, he continued his education in Paris where he studied with Levi-Strauss, attended the lectures of

Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. ( ; ; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest ...

, and completed his analytic training under the direction of

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

Psychoanalysis and religion

Vergote was a former student of the French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

and played an important role introducing psychoanalysis to the University of Leuven. He was the founder, along with Jacques Schotte and Alphonse de Waelhens, of the Belgian School of psychoanalysis. He has published many articles and books on the relationship between psychoanalysis and faith. He has attempted to refute those who view religion as a neurosis by showing that the tools of psychoanalysis can be used to elicit an experience of compassion and sensitivity capable of revealing truth and of giving meaning to human history as reflected in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.Vergote, A. (1978) ''Dette et désir: Deux axes chrétiens et la dérive pathologique''. Éditions du Seuil. Vergote's interest in psychoanalysis evolved from his philosophical background. In 1958 Vergote had already published an article on the question of why philosophers should be interested in Freudian psychoanalysis, especially those interested in Husserl's phenomenology. This phenomenology would be a returning point of reference throughout his writings.Westerink, H. (2009) ''Controversy and Challenge: The Reception of Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalysis in German and Dutch-speaking Theology and Religious Studies (Freud und Seine Rezeption)''. Lit Verlag. . One of Vergote's best known studies, Guilt and Desire (''Dette et désir''), is concerned with the two main neuroses,

hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...

and obsessional

neurosis Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...

in relation to religion, and analysed from a Freudian-Lacanian perspective. Vergote rejects Freud's view of religion as a collective neurosis, as well as his genetic explanation of religion. The core of Vergote's critique of Freud's

Totem and Taboo ''Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'', or ''Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'' (), is a 1913 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoana ...

is the problem of how obedience to the Law (interiorised in the

superego In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego, and superego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, outlined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed t ...

) and guilt can emerge in a primitive society without Law or faith. In Vergote's view, writes H. Westerlink, the obedience and guilt can only be established by a Law. In other words, culture cannot originate from guilt, because, vice versa, guilt presupposes culture. Vergote's "marvellous and classic" study includes an in-depth treatise of several catholic mystics such as

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28March 15154or 15October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during the Counter-Re ...

Psychology and religion

Vergote has written extensively on the subject of the psychology of religion, as distinct from his psychoanalytic perspective. Vergote views religion as a cultural reality or phenomenon and defines it as "the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings". In characterising this viewpoint of religion, Vergote pays tribute to

Clifford Geertz Clifford James Geertz (; August 23, 1926 – October 30, 2006) was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology and who was considered "for three decades&n ...

. Vergote focuses primarily on Christianity because, he writes, it is the dominant religion of our (Western) culture and the majority of psychological studies to date relate to Christian populations. However, he also acknowledges that if one wishes to study religion from the psychological point of view, one must then speak about unbelief or atheism. "Unbelief, insofar as it is not a pure absence of religious questions or interests, is equally a response to the question addressed to humankind by religion". Although he is a religious man himself, Vergote's aim is not to defend any form of religion.

Works

French

*''La psychanalyse, science de l'homme'' (Charles Dessart, 1970) *''Psychologie religieuse'' (Charles Dessart, 1971) *''Interprétation du langage religieux'' (éd. du Seuil, 1974) *''Dette et désir'' (éd. du Seuil, 1978) *''Religion, foi incroyance'' (Liège, 1983) *''La psychanalyse à l'épreuve de la sublimation'' (éd. du Cerf, 1997) *''Modernité et christianisme'' (éd. du Cerf, 1999) *''Humanité de l'homme, divinité de Dieu'' (2007) *''La psychanalyse devant la schizophrénie'' (éd. du Cerf, 2011)

English

* ''Religious Man: Psychological Study of Religious Attitudes'' (Gill & Macmillan, 1969). * ''Parental Figures and the Representation of God: A Psychological and Cross-Cultural Study'' (Walter de Gruyter, 1978) * ''Guilt and desire. Religious Attitudes and Their Pathological Derivations'' (New Haven, 1987). (''Dette et désir. Deux axes chrétiens et la dérive pathologique''). * ''Religion, Belief and Unbelief. A Psychological Study'' (Leuven University Press, 1996). (''Religion, foi, incroyance. Étude psychologique'') * ''Psychoanalysis, Phenomenological Anthropology and Religion'' (Leuven / Amsterdam /Atlanta 1998).

Appreciation

Vergote has been acclaimed "the most eminent figure in the field of the psychology of religion" whose "deep understanding of the psychodynamics analysis of the religious attitude was supported not only by his vast knowledge of philosophical and theological anthropology (Vergote, 1974), but also by the vast and refined empirical analysis which he himself conducted". In the view of Professor Jacob Belzen (University of Amsterdam), Vergote is "a key figure" in European intellectual movements during the 20th century. His influence on both the psychology of religion, and in philosophy, in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

has been profound due to publications and translations into Dutch and due to the fact that some of his students pursued academic careers in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

or the Netherlands. In this respect, Vergote has been called the "godfather of the second major 'school' in the Dutch speaking psychology of religion". In 1998, Vergote was made an honorary member of the Italian Society of the Psychology of Religion (''Società Italiana di Psicologia della Religione'').Stickler, G. (1999
''Profilo di Antoine Vergote''
In M. Aletti & G. Rossi (Eds.), Ricerca di sé e trascendenza. Approcci psicologici all'identità religiosa in una società pluralistica (pp. 17-23). Torino: Centro Scientifico Editore.

References

External links

Informations sur la vie et l'œuvre d'Antoine VergoteLivre portant sur l'œuvre d'Antoine Vergote
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120924005825/http://www.uclouvain.be/en-psyreli Center for Psychology of Religion {{DEFAULTSORT:Vergote, Antoine 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests Analysands of Jacques Lacan Belgian psychologists 1921 births 2013 deaths