The wilderness of dreams
Subtitle: exploring the religious meanings of dreams in modern Western culture
By: Kelly Bulkeley.
Series: SUNY series in dream studies
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 309
Subjects: Dreams -- Religious aspects; Dream interpretation
Description: This interdisciplinary study of the religious dimensions of dreams shows how modern dream research supports and enriches our understanding of religiously meaningful dreams.

The Wilderness of Dreams does four things that no other work on dreams has done. First, it surveys the whole range of modern dream research - not just the work of depth psychologists and neuroscientists, but also the findings of anthropologists, content analysts, cognitive psychologists, creative artists, and lucid dreaming researchers. Second, it draws upon new advances in hermeneutic philosophy in order to clarify basic questions about how to interpret dreams.

Third, it develops a careful, well-grounded notion of religious meaning - the "root metaphor" concept - to show that seeking religious meanings in dreams is not mere superstition. And fourth, the book reflects on the question of why modern Westerners are so interested in affirming, or debunking, the idea that dreams have religious meanings.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-302) and index.