Personal Identity and Creative Self -Understanding: Contributions of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson to the Psychological Foundations of Theology

Abstract

This article attempts to advance our understanding of the intrinsic relationship between psychology and theology by explicating how one facet of the work of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson, in illuminating the question of personal identity and creative self-understanding, contributes to foundational theology. This is done by clarifying the psychological roots of one of the central categories in contemporary theology: self-transcending subjectivity. Within this context, the paper focuses on two key points: (a) that for both Piaget and Erikson not only is authentic subjectivity genuine objectivity, but personal self-realization is no more and no less than personal self-transcendence; and (b) the possibility of correlating Piaget's concept of “personality” with Erikson's “identity.”