Fromm saw medieval Catholicism as infantilizing the masses via mother-religion fantasy

Evidence

Fromm had concluded his study on the development of Christian doctrine with the view that Protestantism stood at the threshold of an era of society in which it was possible for the masses to take an active attitude, as opposed to the infantile-passive attitude of the Middle Ages'. In the medieval period, Catholicism, with its veiled regression to the religion of the Great Mother’, had offered the utterly infantilized masses the fantasy-gratification of being a baby loved by its mother. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 228

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Fromm’s later authoritarian-character work in Escape from Freedom and to Freud’s group psychology. — connects to: Fromm saw love as maternal in origin and independent of sexuality — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 336; Fromm carried secularized Jewish themes into his later work — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 164; Fromm read Christian doctrine shifts as products of socioeconomic change — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 327
• DEFINE: Defines Fromm’s concept of infantile-passive mass attitude vs. active Protestant-era attitude.

Broader Connections

• Fromm read Christian doctrine shifts as products of socioeconomic change #expands (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 327
• Fromm saw love as maternal in origin and independent of sexuality #expands (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 336
• Fromm carried secularized Jewish themes into his later work #qualifies (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 164