Depth Therapy & Christianity:
A Reading List

Those interested in learning more about the relationship between depth psychotherapy and Christianity can find a continually updated and refined catalogue of resources below. I include everything from popular-level texts to academic classics in the field—anything I have found helpful, or anticipate finding helpful, that I think would also benefit those who want to develop their understanding of depth therapy. As with all my reading lists, this is an idiosyncratic list of books or other resources I have found helpful in my own learning, rather than any attempt at an exhaustive or fully representative catalogue of work relevant to the topic. That said, peruse at your leisure and, with any luck, find something that may be helpful to you too!

  • St. Augustine, Confessions.

  • Earl Bland and Brad Strawn (eds), Christianity & Psychoanalysis: A New Conversation. IVP Press, 2014.

  • Walter Conn, Christian Conversion: A Developmental Interpretation of Autonomy and Surrender. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006.

  • _____, The Desiring Self: Rooting Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Direction in Self-Transcendence. Paulist Press, 1998.

  • Carlos Domínguez-Morano, Belief after Freud: Religious Faith through the Crucible of Psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2018.

  • Hieromonk Damascene, Christ the Eternal Tao. St. Herman Press, 2004.

  • Erich Fromm, Psychoanalysis and Religion. Yale University Press, 1959.

  • Daniel Helminiak, Brain, Consciousness, and God: A Lonerganian Integration. SUNY Press, 2016.

  • _____, The Transcended Christian: What Do You Do When You Outgrow Your Religion? CreateSpace, 2013.

  • Eric L. Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. IVP Academic, 2014.

  • _____, God and Soul Care: The Therapeutic Resources of the Christian Faith. IVP Academic, 2017.

  • Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation. Oxford University Press, 2006.

  • Gideon Lev, Spiritually Sensitive Psychoanalysis: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge, 2023.

  • Sebastian Moore, Let This Mind Be In You: The Quest for Identity Through Oedipus to Christ. Harper & Row, 1986.

  • Ana-Maria Rizzuto, The Birth of the Living God: A Psychoanalytic Study. University of Chicago Press, 1981.

  • Anne Terruwe and Conrad Baars, Psychic Wholeness and Healing: Using All the Powers of the Human Psyche. Wipf & Stock, 2016 (2nd ed.).

  • Ann & Barry Ulanov, Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer. Westminster John Knox Press, 1982.

  • _____, Religion and the Unconscious. Westminster John Knox Press, 1985.

  • Eugene Webb, Worldview and Mind: Religious Thought and Psychological Development. University of Missouri Press, 2009.

  • Pierre Wolff, May I Hate God? Paulist Press, 1978.