The Antipatriarchal Jesus: Psychoanalysis, Christianities, Love, Ethics, and Democracy - Hardcover

by David A. J. Richards (Author)

Many--both religious and nonreligious-- find Jesus one of the most compelling figures in human history. Richards came to his view of Jesus from an outsider's perspective, as a gay and nonreligious man, inspired by the psychoanalyst Winnicott's understanding of both psychoanalysis and Jesus and its illumination of his own struggles to equal love. Many may find in this book how and why Jesus so moves them, and why--given the hegemonic power of patriarchy in human history and in the life and times of Jesus and the subsequent history of Christianities--he has been so difficult to see face to face and yet moves something deep in our human natures, the love of equals that he believed was coming into existence through his life and teaching. The book's argument integrates empirical psychology and history to reveal the antipatriarchal Jesus--challenging the anti-Semitism, sexism, and homophobia of the Christianities (Augustine and Luther) that accommodated the hegemonic Roman patriarchy, making many Christianities more Roman than Christian. In contrast, heterodox Christianities, appealing to the antipatriarchal Jesus, have advanced justice and human rights. Their values underlie both Kant's appeal to universal human rights and Rawls's reconstruction of Kant in contemporary terms.

Author Biography

David A. J. Richards, Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University, has published twenty-five books on moral philosophy, constitutional law, feminism, gay rights, and Shakespeare, including two books on how patriarchy threatens democracy with Carol Gilligan. A graduate of Harvard College (studying with John Rawls) and Harvard Law School, he received his doctorate in moral philosophy from Oxford University. He lives in New York City with his partner of fifty years, Donald Levy.