Winnicott and his Religious Roots: A Biographical-Theoretical Excavation

Abstract

The text presents a bibliographical and biographical study of the religious roots of Donald Woods Winnicott, investigating the characteristics of his experience in the Wesleyan Methodist Church during his childhood, adolescence and youth. It seeks to identify influences of the Methodist doctrine in Winnicott’s understanding of human development, and the novelty of placing religiosity in the "transitional space". It also inquires about the influence of his psychoanalytic journey on his way of conceiving religiosity. In order to understand the transformations of religious heritage in Winnicott, his concepts of “creativity”, "spontaneous gesture" and "use of object" are used, pointing out the human need to singularize experience, to destroy and to recreate it. The text emphasizes the last years of his life and his approach to Christ, as expressed in conferences and poems. Winnicott brings a paradigm shift to understand the religious sentiment, and therefore the psychology of religion will be greatly enriched by the understanding of the path he followed.