oa [‘Een geweldige illusie’: Over de theologische achtergronden van Freuds Die Zukunft einer Illusion, A Splendid Illusion: The Theological Background of Freud's The Future of an Illusion]

In this article it is argued that Freuds The Future of an Illusion is highly influenced by two of his followers, Theodor Reik and Oskar Pfister. Their views on religion reflect positions in theological debates within modern theology, debates about the formation of dogmas, the historical core of religion and the position of psychology of religion in relation with dogmatics. Their work on religion as a system of dogmas, their ideas on religion as illusion and their analysis that dogmas are obsolete, are adopted by Freud. The Future of an Illusion can also be seen as part of a controversy between Freud and Pfister on the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion.