Nathan Carlin, a 2001 graduate of Westminster College and current graduate student at the Princeton Theological Seminary, will have his research published in The Journal of Religion and Health.

"'Abandonment, Religion, and Male Melancholia: A Psychoanalytic Study of Archpriest Avvakum's Religious Autobiography' is an article developed from his honors thesis at Westminster," said Dr. Russell Martin, associate professor of history at Westminster College.  "This is an important journal in the field and a great tribute to the hard work and native abilities of this fine young man."

"The article is a psychoanalytic reading of Archpriest Avvakum's autobiography, and takes its cue from observations made by historian Edward Keenan, who offered a tentative diagnosis of manic depression to describe Avvakum's personality," said Carlin.  "I argue that Avvakum carried his childhood experiences and conflicts over into his religious life, which manifested a series of transferences and displacements.  The church was his loving or positive relationship with his family, and Patriarch Nikon and his followers embodied everything he feared and resented about his own childhood and abandonment."

"I thank my Westminster professors, Jeff Kripal, Russ Martin, and Kang Na for all their continued support," continued Carlin.  "I hope the Religion, History, Philosophy, and Classics Department maintains its rigor and continues to challenge students to look at religion from an academic perspective."

Carlin will also have articles on Avvakum and Nikon published in the 2004 An Encyclopedia of Holy People.

For more information, contact Martin at (724) 946-6254 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu.

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