Daughter of Renowned Psychoanalyst Zilboorg to Speak at Annual Karl Stern Lecture

The Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center will host Dr. Caroline Zilboorg, author and daughter of prominent psychiatrist Gregory Zilboorg, as part of the third annual Karl Stern Lecture.

Caroline Zilboorg will discuss the topic The Conversion of Gregory Zilboorg: Faith, Hope and Charity in two lectures. She will present, Faith and Hope at 2 p.m. and Hope and Charity at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29, in the Phenomenology Center in the Gumberg Library. The lectures will provide insight into Gregory Zilboorg, the highly regarded psychoanalyst who struggled to reconcile his profession and his faith.

Gregory Zilboorg was a respected psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and medical historian. Born in Kiev, he was raised as an Orthodox Jew, but abandoned his ancestral faith in his 20s. When the Bolsheviks took over, he worked as a journalist in Kiev, but fearing political persecution, fled to Holland, then to the United States in 1919. He went on to become a prolific writer on psychiatry, psychoanalysis and religion who converted to Catholicism in 1945.

The Phenomenology Center opened a historically significant archive of Stern’s papers in 2014. The center is co-sponsoring the third annual Karl Stern Lecture with Gumberg Library and the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts.

A reception and Q&A will follow the lectures. For more information, email Jeffrey McCurry at mccurryj@duq.edu.