This book considers the challenges and opportunities of the Anthropocene Age from the perspective of pastoral theology/care. The fundamental question and concern with regard to the Anthropocene Age for human beings and other species is, how are we to dwell together on this one earth. Care, LaMothe argues, is the central concept in answering this question. Effective care requires pastoral theologians to make use of multiple interpretive frameworks (e.g., theology, philosophy, human sciences, etc.) in the analytic pursuit of understanding and responding effectively to the realities of climate change. At the same time, it is also important for pastoral theologians to examine critically the theologies and philosophies that give rise to and impede pastoral interventions and, in the case of the Anthropocene Age, to be clear about how theologies and philosophies have contributed to ideologies that undergird both exploitation of the earth and other-than-human beings, while also contributing to climate change and obstructing climate action. These are necessary steps in developing pastoral responses aimed at caring for persons, communities, and other-than-human beings in need of a viable dwelling.

A Political Psychoanalysis for the Anthropocene Age presents an evaluation of the politics of climate change and considers how psychoanalysis can contribute to this discourse. Presented in two parts, the book first uses a psychoanalytic approach to interrogate political-economic realities and their impact on shaping Western political selves in the Anthropocene age. Ryan LaMothe identifies core illusions of the Western psyche and how they shape behavior and relations, as well as how they are implicated in various emotional responses to climate change like eco-mourning and eco-denial. Topics such as political dwelling, sovereignty, political violence and change, climate obstacles such as capitalism, nationalism, and imperialism, and the problem of hope are explored using psychoanalytic and philosophical perspectives. LaMothe then considers the role of psychoanalysis in the public-political realm, as well as how a psychoanalytic political perspective invites reforming the education and practice of psychoanalysis. A Political Psychoanalysis for the Anthropocene Age will be thought-provoking reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well as anyone interested in the politics of climate change.

A Political Psychoanalysis for the Anthropocene Age presents an evaluation of the politics of climate change and considers how psychoanalysis can contribute to this discourse. Presented in two parts, the book first uses a psychoanalytic approach to interrogate political-economic realities and their impact on shaping Western political selves in the Anthropocene age. Ryan LaMothe identifies core illusions of the Western psyche and how they shape behavior and relations, as well as how they are implicated in various emotional responses to climate change like eco-mourning and eco-denial. Topics such as political dwelling, sovereignty, political violence and change, climate obstacles such as capitalism, nationalism, and imperialism, and the problem of hope are explored using psychoanalytic and philosophical perspectives. LaMothe then considers the role of psychoanalysis in the public-political realm, as well as how a psychoanalytic political perspective invites reforming the education and practice of psychoanalysis. A Political Psychoanalysis for the Anthropocene Age will be thought-provoking reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well as anyone interested in the politics of climate change.

What does it mean to be and feel alive and real? How do we become and be alive together? Human beings are uniquely concerned with the question and marvel of what it means to feel alive and real, as well as the lifelong struggle of being alive together. Becoming Alive proffers a psychoanalytic theory of experiences of being alive, acknowledging that analyst and patient, indeed, each of us, are caught up in the larger drama and mystery of being alive. Focusing on the challenge in any psychoanalytic theory to demonstrate the relation between culture, community, and the individual, LaMothe's theory provides a bridge between the three, arguing that organizations of experiences of being alive are inextricably yoked to cultural stories, rituals, and practices. Enlivened by clinical illustrations and examples drawn from wider culture, Becoming Alive brings together psychoanalytic developmental perspectives, infant-parent research, semiotics, and philosophy in providing a comprehensive, lucid, and systematic description of subjective and intersubjective experiences of being alive.

This book explores the growing awareness, brought on by the recent explosion of communication technology, that all human beings are citizens of the world. Ryan LaMothe argues that this awareness comes with an urgent need to address political issues, systems, and structures at local, state, and international levels that harm human beings and our one habitat. Through the lens of pastoral theology, LaMothe analyzes the concepts of care, faith, power, and community as they are related to addressing local and global problems linked to neoliberal capitalism, racism and classism.