PSYCHIATRY AND RELIGION

This is a book which does not live up to the promise of its title and of the reputation of its editor, the late Rabbi Liebman, author of the best-selling PEACE OF MIND. What is given us is the record of a conference of clergymen of various faiths with psychiatrists to discuss the problems they have in common. While the conference was no doubt not only interesting but meaningful to those who attended it, the written record of it falls flat. However, the publication of the volume and its discussion of mental health, the emotional needs of childhood, adolescence, marriage and grief may underscore the necessity of close collaboration between psychiatrists and religionists. It may lead to further conferences and to other books which will deal with the subject in a more thorough-going way.