The Night in Gethsemane: On Solitude and Betrayal

As the Gospels tell us, after the Last Supper Jesus retreats to a small field just outside the city of Jerusalem: Gethsemane, the olive grove. His prayers are interrupted when Judas arrives with a group of armed men, and kisses him. The kiss, given to point Jesus out to the guards, has become a powerful symbol of the wrenching experience of betrayal, and abandonment. Betrayed by his disciples, even by Peter, the most faithful of them all, Jesus is forsaken. His sin, to have drawn God closer to man. In The Night in Gethsemane, Massimo Recalcati, one of Italy’s highest regarded psychoanalysts, traces the relationship between biblical text and psychoanalytical theory, revealing human life in all its fragility and its agony. “An elegant, provocative meditation on one of the Gospels’ most emotionally complex moments.”

“A brilliant, stirring analysis.”

“A book that reads in less than two hoursbut stays with you forever.”

“Lively and sharp . . . an invitation tolook positively at the loneliness of human experience.”

As the Gospels tell us, after the Last Supper Jesus retreats to a small field just outside the city of Jerusalem: Gethsemane, the olive grove. His prayers are interrupted when Judas arrives with a group of armed men, and kisses him. The kiss, given to point Jesus out to the guards, has become a powerful symbol of the wrenching experience of betrayal, and abandonment. Betrayed by his disciples, even by Peter, the most faithful of them all, Jesus is forsaken. His sin, to have drawn God closer to man.

In The Night in Gethsemane, Massimo Recalcati, one of Italy’s highest regarded psychoanalysts, traces the relationship between biblical text and psychoanalytical theory, revealing human life in all its fragility and its agony.

• | Author: Massimo Recalcati, Ann Goldstein
• | Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
• | Publication Date: Nov 05, 2020
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9781787702592
• | ISBN-10: 1787702596