Born in 1846 in Ireland at the start of the "Great Hunger," James Kinnier Wilson emigrated to Philadelphia to start a new life at seventeen years old.After his life took a dramatic turn, he found himself attending Princeton and then a college in Scotland, where he met Agnes Hately, the talented daughter of a famous figure in the Scottish "Disruption"-the emergence of the Free Church of Scotland.Agnes and James, now newlyweds, crossed the dangerous Atlantic and settled in ru...

Psychoanalysis and the Wisdom of Ecclesiastes looks at one of the most profound books in the Hebrew Bible – Ecclesiastes, known as Koheleth in Hebrew – through a psychoanalytic lens.Paul Marcus explores Ecclesiastes’ understanding of the profound and compelling problematics of the human condition and explains how he offers a sensible and feasible attitude toward contemporary life. Comparing Ecclesiastes’ way of looking at life to the Freudian worldview, Marcus suggests wha...

The Spiritual Resistance of Rabbi Leo Baeck provides an overview of the life of Dr. Leo Baeck (1873–1956), a German-Jewish rabbi, theologian, historian and Holocaust survivor, from a psychoanalytic perspective.Paul Marcus approaches Baeck’s life and intellectual/theological contribution as it interfaces with a broadly defined psychoanalysis. This book describes and explains how Baeck maintained the rudiments of his autonomy, integration and humanity while remaining in Nazi...

At a time when barbarous acts of terrorism are being committed globally and society ponders whether the perpetrators are legitimate religious adherents, Marcus Paul makes an unflinching and counter-cultural examination of some of the worst periods in the Church's history.Were the crusades entirely inexcusable religious wars? Was the Inquisition the bloody and sadistic "Black Legend" of popular imagination? How can we understand the goodness of God after two brutalising world wars?

Psychoanalysis and Wisdom applies psychoanalytic insights into one of the great examples of wisdom literature, the Ethics of the Fathers, an ethical tractate of the Talmud.Paul Marcus quotes key passages from the Ethics of the Fathers, providing a psychoanalytic commentary to enlarge and deepen our understanding of its contents, focusing primarily on what constitutes a flourishing life. Marcus then considers what psychoanalysis can provide in its engagement with this class...

Psychoanalysis and Toileting is an accessible book that delineates and interprets the psychological meanings of defecating and urinating in everyday life.Paul Marcus’ work gives the clinician an in-depth view of an activity that every patient and practitioner engage in and shows how not dealing with toileting in its wide range of social and practical contexts leaves out a huge aspect of the patient’s everyday experience. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory and practice, the...

Both criminal defense lawyers and criminal prosecutors must thoroughly understand the rights of the accused under the Sixth Amendment in order to provide competent service and ensure that they are following all court procedures according to the rule of law. The Rights of the Accused under the Sixth Amendment provides an in-depth look at seven key aspects of this area of the law:The right to a speedy trial;The right to a jury trial;The right to a p...

The great existential psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger famously pointed out to Freud that therapeutic failure could "only be understood as the result of something which could be called a deficiency of spirit." Binswanger was surprised when Freud agreed, asserting, "Yes, spirit is everything." However, spirit and the spiritual realm have largely been dropped from mainstream psychoanalytic theory and practice.This book seeks to help revitalize a culturally aging psychoanalysis that is ...

In Psychoanalysis, Classic Social Psychology and Moral Living: Let the Conversation Begin, Paul Marcus uniquely draws on psychoanalysis and social psychology to examine what affects the ethical decisions people make in their everyday life.Psychoanalysis traditionally looks at early experiences, concepts and drives which shape how we choose to behave in later life. In contrast, classic social psychology experiments have illustrated how specific situational forces can shape ...

The art of living the "good life" requires skilful attunement to the lovely presences in everyday life. Lodged in a psychoanalytic sensibility, and drawing from ancient and modern religious and spiritual wisdom, this book provides the details, conceptual structures, and inner meanings of a number of easily accessible, everyday activities, including gardening, sport, drinking coffee, storytelling, and listening to music. It also suggests how to best engage these activities, to consecrate th...

The Psychoanalysis of Overcoming Suffering: Flourishing Despite Pain offers a guide to understanding and working with a range of everyday causes of suffering from a psychoanalytic perspective.The book delineates some of the underappreciated, everyday facets of the troubling and challenging psychological experiences associated with love, work, faith, mental anguish, old age, and psychotherapeutic caregiving. Examining both the suffering of the patient and therapist, Paul Ma...

This book claims that a tragicomic outlook—the kind that echoes in black and gallows humour and the "laughter through tears" of Jewish humour—is the most effective way to manage what Freud called the "harshness" of everyday life.