Episode 5: Religion and Psychology. A conversation with Pittman McGehee

In today’s episode, Pittman unpacks the definition of religion and broadens the traditional limiting assumptions many immediately experience in relationship to religion. We discuss how many of the actions that have been in the name of religion are not religious. We begin by defining religion, the philosophy of materialism, psychological wholeness, good and evil, individuation, and the Self. Pittman discusses where religion goes wrong and how the human stewards of the various traditions affect the search for wholeness with human impulses, ideologies, and dominance. He defines spirituality as the deep human longing to transfer the transcendent into the immanent through experience and reflection upon it. We explore the profoundly powerful sacred aspects of human sexuality and the assault by the organize structures and the misinterpretation of each tradition that has been destructive of sexuality.

Biography:

Pittman became was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1969, The Very Reverend J. Pittman McGehee served, for 11 years, as Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, located in the center of downtown Houston. Since moving to Houston in 1980, Mr. McGehee has been in demand as a lecturer and speaker in the fields of psychology and religion. He lectures regularly at the C. G. Jung Center and has published two papers through that Center: “Water as a Symbol of Transformation” (1985), and “The Healing Wound and the Wounded Healer” (1986). He is a regular book reviewer for The Living Church.

Dr. McGehee has held many distinguished lectureships, including the 1987 Harvey Lecture at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, where he received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity; the 1988 Perkins Lecture in Wichita Falls; the 1990 Woodhull Lectures in Dayton, Ohio, and the 1991 St. Luke’s Lectures in Birmingham. He was the 1994 Rockwell visiting Theologian at the University of Houston and 1996 Carolyn Fay Lecturer in Analytical Psychology also at the University of Houston. He is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Texas, an Adjunct Instructor at Saybrook University, and a Faculty Member of the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. His books are: The Invisible Church: Finding Spirituality Where You Are, Praeger Press, 2008; Raising Lazarus: The Science of Healing the Soul, 2009; Words Made Flesh: Selected Sermons by The Very Reverend J. Pittman McGehee, D.D., 2011; The Paradox of Love, (available 10/1/2011); and Slender Threads: An Interview with Robert Johnson (DVD).

In addition to his teaching and prose writing, Mr. McGehee is known for his poetry. His work has been chosen for the juried Houston Poetry Fest (1985, 1987, 1988), and his poems “Ash Wednesday,” “Pegasus,” and “Semination” were published in the Poetry Fest Anthology. His poems also have appeared in the Cimarron Review, the Anglican Theological Review, the St. Luke’s Journal, In Art magazine, Cite magazine, Windhover, and New Texas magazine.

In 1991, Dr. McGehee resigned from Christ Church Cathedral to become the director of The Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality. The Institute joins the disciplines of psychology and religion by exploring the concept that mental health comes with the integration of the biological, psychological, and spiritual elements of the human condition. In 1996, the C. G. Jung Institute of Dallas awarded him a diploma in Analytical Psychology. In addition, he is currently in private practice as a priest/psychoanalyst and teacher/lecturer.

www.jpittmanmcgehee.com

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www.modernnationsmusic.com

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