Ulanov, Ann Belford

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ULANOV, Ann Belford

Born 1 January 1938, Princeton, New Jersey

Daughter of Ralph J. and Ruth Belford; married Barry Ulanov, 1968; children: one son.

Ann Belford Ulanov was the youngest of three children. Her father was a surgeon and her mother a nurse. She earned her B.A. cum laude from Radcliffe in 1959. She received a Master of Divinity magna cum laude (1962) and a Ph.D. in psychiatry and religion (1967) from the Union Theological Seminary. Ulanov received her analytical training from the C. G. Jung Training Center in New York City (1963-67). She has been in private practice in New York since 1965 and a professor of psychiatry and religion at the Union Theological Seminary since 1974. Her husband is an English professor (and former chairman of the Department of Religion at Barnard College). They have one son.

In The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and in Christian Theology (1971), Ulanov investigates the implications for Christian theology of Jung's special insights into the feminine. Ulanov emphasizes Jung's idea that the psyche is structured in polarities; she believes that the masculine-feminine polarity encompasses in its symbolism all the other psychic polarities. She goes on to demonstrate that of these two poles, the feminine has been most neglected in psychoanalytic literature. It is usually treated as auxiliary to the masculine and confined to its literal sexuality. Ulanov analyzes and then rejects what she calls the "biological approach" of Freud and the "cultural approach" of more current socioanthropological studies. Using the theories of Kant and Cassire, as well as of Jung, she maintains that all perceptions of reality are symbolic and partially subjective. She describes aspects of the feminine—both as the predominant approach to reality in a woman and as it appears in a man's psyche as the contra-sexual element, the anima—and the negative effects of its repression in western religion. This book delineates the religious significance for our culture of accepting the experience and consciousness of women and sheds light on the difficulty of the Christian experience for women.

Ulanov wrote Religion and the Unconscious (1975) with her husband. They begin by describing the intrapsychic relationship between consciousness and the unconscious, and how both depth psychology and religion mediate and illuminate numinous and primordial experiences of the psyche. They predict an assimilation of Jungian "active imagination" into religious institutions in the form of spiritual exercises. Like Ulanov's first book, the style of Religion and the Unconscious is lucid, smoothly written, methodical. But because it breaks new ground through a synthesis of two fields, the second book is more difficult to understand. Religion and the Unconscious is nevertheless exciting, hopeful, brilliant, and profound. It is ecumenical in the deepest sense in showing the universal psychic need for the processes that religion has codified into sacraments. The book is quiet in tone and written for a well-educated reader but will undoubtedly become a classic in its new field.

In The Functioning Transcendent: A Study in Analytical Psychology (1996), Ulanov tackles the manner in which the transcendent—or "God, the unknown, or the holy"—operates in our lives by demonstrating how it has operated in her clinical practice. Drawing on her observations, she discusses the spiritual aspects of analysis as they are manifested in cases involving issues such as weight problems in women, suicidal ideation, and masochism.

Ulanov and her husband, Barry, collaborated on Cinderella and Her Sisters: The Envied and the Envying (1998), a study of the emotion of envy. Using the fairytale's story as a basis, the Ulanovs consider the psychological aspects of envy and discuss the male and female aspects of the individual as well as relationships between persons of the same and/or opposite sexes.

In The Female Ancestors of Christ (1999), Ulanov attempts to resurrect the "female voice" in the Christian religion. The Gospel according to Matthew includes four women in Christ's genealogy—Ruth, Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba. Ulanov argues that these women merge issues of sexuality and spirituality and represent Jesus' feminine side. Critics have remarked that although the premise showed promise, Ulanov's obscure narrative style requires acceptance of her analyses on faith rather than as supported by logic.

Ulanov has a compassionate, perceptive viewpoint on both women and universal religious needs. She never waxes angry, and one feels trust in her always balanced, fair discussion of all issues. Her books will outlive contemporary controversies because she always takes the long view.

Other Works:

Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (1988). The Witch and the Clown: Two Archetypes of Human Sexuality (1990). Men and Women: Sexual Ethics in Turbulent Times (1991). Transforming Sexuality: The Archetypal World of Anima and Animus (1994). The Wisdom of the Psyche (1994). The Wizard's Gate: Picturing Consciousness (1994). Receiving Woman: Studies in the Psychology and Theology of the Feminine (1995).

Bibliography:

American Journal of Psychiatry (Aug. 1974). Anglican Theological Review (Oct. 1976). Christian Century (2 Mar. 1977). Crosscurrents (Summer-Fall 1972). Religion in Life (Winter 1976).