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영어

This research aims to examine the psychological understanding of a prayer, particularly, how Winnicott’s theory can help explain Thomas Keating’s Centering prayer. Donald Winnicott reinterprets the psychological place of religion by introducing the concept of ‘transitional object’ and ‘transitional phenomena.’ The third area between dream and reality is a creative and mystic place of connection with God. His approach focusing on the relationship between inner self and the external world, still shows spiritual insight. As Meissner’s argument, it is essential for man to “revive the roots of his capacity for creative living and for faith experience” in the transitional area. Also, Winnicott’s the ideas of True Self and False Self offers insightful psychological understandings of religious activities in the individual psychic place. These concepts are essentially related to an individual’s religious life, which is an intermediate area between faith and reality. Thomas Keating explains that the‘True Self’ may be identified by Divine union during the centering prayer. The False Self can be transformed into the True Self through unloading the unconscious. The ideas of the True Self and False Self in Winnicott and Keating teach us to need of remaining the appropriate distances between True Self and False Self. Korean ministers should help church members to pray with one’s True Self. If our prayer is not based on voice of the True Self, our prayer can be a hypocritical formal and empty prayer of hypocrisy. Winnicott’s contribution that Korean church may function as a holding environment for Korean Christians and Korean society These lessons guide Korean churches to help to connect with God in the space of the True Self through prayer.