Christian anti-Judaism and early object relations theory

Abstract

The central ideas of early object relations theory are heavily inflected with Christian anti-Judaism, particularly as found in the work of Ian Dishart Suttie, now credited as the founder of this tradition. The critique of Freud launched by Suttie repudiates Freudian theory as a “disease” inextricably connected to Freud being a Jew. Suttie’s portrayal of Judaism both conforms to and replicates those theological commitments that privilege a triumphalist, supersessionist Christianity that breaks with Judaism, understood as devoid of love, ethics, and social justice interests. The paper argues that the elements organizing the central concepts that structure Suttie’s Christian prejudice constitute distorting ideological interests that circulate and shape important strands of contemporary object relations theory. Central to the authors discussed is a repudiation of Freud’s theory of unconscious drives on the basis of privileging love and intersubjectivity as the motivators of human psychological development made possible by Jesus and Christianity. The paper demonstrates that contemporary object relations theory remains heavily indebted to Suttie while remaining oblivious to his explicit anti-Judaism.

In Defense of Curiosity: Some Thoughts on Psychoanalysis and Secularism on the 20thAnniversary of September 11th

“…According to Hewitt, this is especially true for Ian Dishart Suttie, whose work is not as well-known as Fairbairn's or Guntrip's, despite the impact it had on the development of the school. (Hewitt 2018).…”

Introduction to the special issue on the Frankfurt School and religion

“…The genesis of this special issue on the Frankfurt School and religion came out of a conference panel in May of 2016 at the Left Forum in New York City, featuring Eduardo Mendieta, Craig Christopher Brittain, and Matt Sheedy, with a response from Warren S. Goldstein. These conference papers have been greatly expanded here, along with new contributions by Marsha Hewitt (2018), Kenneth MacKendrick (2018), and a co-authored article by Afary and Friedland (2018).…”

“…Marsha Hewitt’s (2018) essay, “Christian Anti-Judaism in Early Object Relations Theory,” in this issue revisits the first generation of Frankfurt School thinkers’ keen interest in Freud (see Marcuse, 1974), particularly their emphasis on his theory of drives, which, as she puts it, they used “to understand the aggressive and destructive tendencies in human behaviour.” While these and other dimensions of the Frankfurt School theory undergird Hewitt’s aims, her essay focuses on the work of Scottish psychiatrist Ian Dishart Suttie (1889–1935), and the influence of his book The Origins of Love and Hate (1935), widely considered foundational for object relations theory. Guiding Hewitt’s investigation is, as her title suggests, the current of anti-Jewish sentiment not only in Suttie’s influential text but also the problematic inheritance of certain theological threads throughout this school of thought.…”