Oskar Pfister (23 February 1873 – 6 August 1956) was a Swiss

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

minister and lay psychoanalyst who was a native of Wiedikon. Pfister studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, philosophy and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

, graduating in 1898 in the philosophical faculty. He then became a pastor, serving in

Wald WALD (1080 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Johnsonville, South Carolina. The station is part of the Worship and Word Network and is owned by Glory Communications, Inc., based in St. Stephen, South Carolina. It carries an Urban Gosp ...

( canton of Zürich) until 1920. He is remembered for his efforts involving the application of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

to the science of education, as well as his belief system in a synthesis of psychology and theology. Pfister was a pioneer of modern Swiss psychology, belonging to a psychoanalytical circle in Zurich that was centered on

Eugen Bleuler Paul Eugen Bleuler (; ; 30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939) was a Swiss psychiatrist and humanist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including "schizophrenia", "schizoid", ...

and

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...

. In 1919, he formed the Swiss Society for Psychoanalysis. Although the psychiatrist Emil Oberholzer founded a separate Swiss Medical Society for Psychoanalysis in 1928, Pfister stuck with the group he had started, defending

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

's position on

lay analysis A lay analysis is a psychoanalysis performed by someone who is not a physician; that person was designated a lay analyst. In '' The Question of Lay Analysis'' (1927), Sigmund Freud defended the right of those trained in psychoanalysis to practi ...

that Oberholzer's group rejected.Paul Roazen, "Introductory Note" to Pfister, "The Illusion of a Future: A Friendly Disagreement with Prof. Sigmund Freud", ''International Journal of Psycho-Analysis'' 74 (1993), pp. 557–58. Pfister was an early associate of Freud, maintaining an ongoing correspondence with him from 1909 to 1939 (the year of Freud's death). Pfister believed that theology and psychology were compatible disciplines and advocated the concept of a "Christian Eros". He was especially interested in Freud's concepts of the

Oedipus Complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to hav ...

castration anxiety Castration anxiety is the fear of emasculation in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Castration anxiety is an overwhelming fear of damage to, or loss of, the penis—one of Sigmund Freud's earliest psychoanalytic theories. Although Freu ...

and infantile sexuality. From a religious standpoint, Pfister advocated a return to what he saw as the original fundamental teachings of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The Oskar Pfister Award is awarded by the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involv ...

, with the Association of Professional Chaplains, for significant contributions to the field of religion and psychiatry.

Selected writings

* ''Psychoanalysis & Faith: the Letters of Sigmund Freud & Oskar Pfister (1909–39)'' *1910: ''Die Frömmigkeit des Grafen Ludwig von Zinzendorf'' *1917: ''The Psychoanalytic Method''; Charles Rockwell Payne (translator) *1944: ''Das Christentum und die Angst: Eine religionspsychologische, historische und religionshygienische Untersuchung'' *1948: ''Christianity and Fear'' (translation of ''Das Christentum und die Angst'')

Notes

References

''Encyclopedia of Christianity''

''Psychoanalysis and Faith''
by Hans Zulliger {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfister, Oskar Swiss Protestant theologians Swiss Lutherans Swiss Protestant ministers Swiss psychiatrists 1873 births 1956 deaths People from Zürich Swiss psychoanalysts