Psychology of Religion: Library Resources

"Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a relentless condition, the primary symptom being the occurrence of terrifying ideas, images, and urges that jump into a person's mind and return again and again, despite the individual's attempt to remove them. Christians who suffer from OCD may grapple with additional guilt, as the undesired thoughts are frequently of a spiritual nature. Yet people may be surprised to learn that some of the greatest leaders in Christian history also struggled with this malady. What did they experience? How did they cope? Were they able to overcome these tormenting, often violent, obsessions? Where did God fit into the picture? Ian Osborn shares the personal accounts of Martin Luther, John Bunyan, and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, as well as his own story, in exploring how faith and science work together to address this complex issue."

"Psychoanalysts have traditionally been expert at uncovering what afflicts and damages people, argues Jeffrey B. Rubin, but by focusing on narcissism and perversions, depression and sadism, psychoanalysis has all too often disregarded what nourishes and sustains us. In The Good Life, he demonstrates how psychoanalysis can make a profound contribution to the well-lived life by drawing on a neglected but potent aspect of psychoanalysis—its capacity to illuminate a psychology of health as well as illness. Rubin shows that, at its best, psychoanalysis can highlight both the ingredients of love, ethics, creativity, and spirituality, as well as the obstacles to experiencing them. Exploring the good life from this dual perspective provides an indispensable resource for helping us live with greater meaning and vitality."

"Ignatius of Loyola-knight and saint, mystic and ascetic, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)-was one of the greatest figures in Western Christianity. This book, written by a psychiatrist-psychoanalyst who is also a Jesuit, is the first work to investigate the inner life of Ignatius and to study the psychological motivations for his spirituality and mysticism."

" Four Volume Set - As Princeton scholar Donald Capps says in the Foreword, decades from now, our successors will surely wonder how such a monumental undertaking as these four volumes on psychology and the Bible could have ever come about. These books provide the first comprehensive portrait from a relatively new field that combines psychological analysis with biblical studies. Thirty-four experts from seven countries gather here to show us how the various schools of psychology interpret the scriptures, from sexual laws and beliefs about shame to the personalities of Jesus, Job, and the prophet Ezekiel. A range of psychological perspectives from Freud to Kohut is chronicled, demonstrating a broad spectrum of applications from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament."

"In the Course of a Lifetime provides an unprecedented portrait of the dynamic role religion plays in the everyday experiences of Americans over the course of their lives. The book draws from a unique sixty-year-long study of close to two hundred mostly Protestant and Catholic men and women who were born in the 1920s and interviewed in adolescence, and again in the 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, and late 1990s. Woven throughout with rich, intimate life stories, the book presents and analyzes a wide range of data from this study on the participants' religious and spiritual journeys. A testament to the vibrancy of religion in the United States, In the Course of a Lifetime provides an illuminating and sometimes surprising perspective on how individual lives have intersected with cultural change throughout the decades of the twentieth century."

"Gorsuch seeks to provide a thoughtful introduction to relating spirituality and psychology in a postmodern era. This is timely due to the considerable interest in spirituality, the ways psychology and religion can impact lives, and ways spirituality and psychology can be brought together in dialogue or integration. Gorsuch provides a basis from which to address the many practical concerns to which both psychology and spirituality speak. Practical issues are the ultimate concern of both psychology and spirituality. Gorsuch addresses such issues as examples along the way and in the final set of chapters, which introduce and discuss issues central to clinical psychology and those central to social psychology. Psychology provides an empirical base for many of his discussions, and he devises two methods of dialoging or integrating psychology and spirituality. Of particular interest to psychologists and providers of mental health services and to those involved with the intersection of science and religion.

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"It is not by coincidence that the key figures in the psychology of religion -- William James, Rudolph Otto, Carl Jung, and Erik Erikson -- each fought a lifelong battle with melancholia, argues Donald Capps in this engrossing book. These four men experienced similar traumas in early childhood: each perceived a loss of mother's unconditional love. In the deep melancholy that resulted, they turned to religion. Capps contends that the main impetus for men to become religious lies in such melancholia, and that these four authors were typical, although their losses were especially severe because of complicating personal circumstances. Offering a new way of viewing the major classics in the psychology of religion, Capps explores the psychological origins of these authors' own religious visions through a sensitive examination of their writings."

"C. G. Jung saw in the cultural history of Western man a progressive evolution of its God-image. During the last ten years of his life, he wrote a series of letters about the new God-image which is now emerging through the discoveries of depth psychology. Ed. Edward Edinger has selected fourteen of these letters to discuss and has segmented the book into the following three parts: Epistemological Premises - Modern man's new awareness of subjectivity. The Paradoxical God - The nature of the new God-image as a union of opposites. Continuing Incarnation - How the new God-image is born in individual men and women. "

" Why do people have religious ideas? And why thosereligious ideas? The main theme of Pascal Boyer's work is that important aspects of religious representations are constrained by universal properties of the human mind-brain. Experimental results from developmental psychology, he says, can explain why certain religious representations are more likely to be acquired, stored, and transmitted by human minds. Considering these universal constraints, Boyer proposes an exciting new answer to the question of why similar religious representations are found in so many different cultures. His work will be widely discussed by cultural anthropologists, psychologists, and students of religion, history, and philosophy.
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" "I don't believe in God, but I miss him." So begins this book, which is a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and a homage to the writer Jules Renard "

"Picturing God demonstrates the importance of confronting our unconscious selves and allowing our images of God – both positive and negative – to surface. Such inner exploration reveals not only relevant insights about ourselves, but also pulls us beyond our private pictures of God toward a truer view of the living God. Picturing God shows us how to explore our unconscious selves and how this spiritual exercise can change the whole of our lives: how we respond to God, how we relate to others, and how we view ourselves."

"John Horgan, author of the best-selling The End of Science, chronicles the most advanced research into the mechanics—and meaning—of mystical experiences. How do trances, visions, prayer, satori, and other mystical experiences “work”? What induces and defines them? Is there a scientific explanation for religious mysteries and transcendent meditation? John Horgan investigates a wide range of fields — chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, theology, and more — to narrow the gap between reason and mystical phenomena. As both a seeker and an award-winning journalist, Horgan consulted a wide range of experts, including theologian Huston Smith, spiritual heir to Joseph Campbell; Andrew Newberg, the scientist whose quest for the “God module” was the focus of a Newsweek cover story; Ken Wilber, prominent transpersonal psychologist; Alexander Shulgin, legendary psychedelic drug chemist; and Susan Blackmore, Oxford-educated psychologist, parapsychology debunker, and Zen practitioner. Horgan explores the striking similarities between “mystical technologies” like sensory deprivation, prayer, fasting, trance, dancing, meditation, and drug trips. He participates in experiments that seek the neurological underpinnings of mystical experiences. "

"In the Reason of Following noted scholar Robert P. Scharlemann takes Christology in a radically new direction, suggesting that Christology itself represents a form of reason and an understanding of selfhood. For the first time, Scharlemann establishes a logical place for Christology in philosophical theology. Scharlemann presents a christological phenomenology of the self, tracing the connections between the "I am" of the God who spoke to Moses, the "I am" of Christ, and the "I am" of autonomous self-identification. How, he asks, can the self that spontaneously responds to Jesus' "Follow me!" be compared with the everyday, autonomous self? What is the nature of "following" on the part of those who answer the summons of one whose name is "I am"? Pursuing these questions, Scharlemann develops a christological phenomenology of the self—an account in which following means not the expression of the self in action or reflection but rather self-discovery in another person."

" An examination of the thought of four modern thinkers - Carl Jung, Paul Tillich, Ernst Bloch, and Jurgen Moltmann - in an effort to explore the nature of the relationship between the doctrine of God and the problem of human psychological and social conflict.
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""What is a person?" Although the answer is given in largely theoretical terms, the primary concern of this book is to identify the personal, social and political practices required to live as a human in community with others. Christian trinitarian theology is accordingly interwoven with contemporary social thought to provide an account of individuality and of the various dimensions of personal existence (the psychological, the interpersonal, the material, the institutional, the political, the spiritual) in terms of communication. The basic theme of this book is that we become the people we are as our identities are shaped through the patterns of relation, communication and exchange that surround and incorporate us." Amazon

"This is an interdisciplinary collection of previously unpublished papers on the controversial relationship between religious behavior and mental health. Schumaker has assembled a distinguished international roster of contributors--sociologists and anthropologists as well as psychiatrists and psychologists of religion--representing a wide range of opinions concerning the mental health implications of religious belief and practice. Taken together, the papers provide a comprehensive overview of theory and research in the field. Included are papers on the interaction of religion and self-esteem, life meaning and well-being, sexual and marital adjustment, anxiety, depression, suicide, psychoticism, rationality, self-actualization, and various patterns of anti-social behavior. Religion is also dealt with in relation to mental health of women, the elderly, and children. Contributions dealing with mental health in non-Western religious groups add an important cross-cultural dimension to the volume."

"At his death in 1987, Paul W. Pruyser of the Menninger Foundation was widely recognized as one of America's foremost authorities on the psychology of religion. His book A Dynamic Psychology of Religion set the stage for creative dialogue on the subject. In this volume, two leading practitioners in the field present a compilation of Pruyser's seminal articles, providing an overview of the major themes in Pruyser's thought. Newton Malony and Bernard Spilka evaluate Pruyser's viewpoint and suggest how his position continues to influence the psychology of religion."

"In this groundbreaking study of convictional knowing, Dr. James E. Loder (Professor of the Philosophy of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary) builds a framework for understanding human experiences in which ordinary modes of apprehending reality are suspended by the startling intrusion of a convincing insight -- which often arrives with convictional force and transformational power. Interweaving psychology and Christian theology, Loder establishes the five-part pattern of convictional insight in the arts, sciences, the practice of psychotherapy, human development, and spirituality. "Personally powerful, spiritually sophisticated, therapeutically sensitive -- a resource for all who long to find the Face of God in the voids we face." -- James B. Ashbrook"

"With characteristic eloquence and insight, prominent historian Paul K. Conkin explores large, indeed cosmic issues in When All the Gods Trembled. Conkin focuses his analysis on the numerous challenges in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to age-old beliefs in the existence of a god, in a world that exhibits some extrinsic or intrinsic purpose, in the divine origin and special destiny of humans, and in transcendent moral values. By the 1920s, these challenges had created a major crisis of faith. Conkin traces the origins of Western beliefs about the gods and about human origins, beliefs shared by the three great Semitic religions. He proceeds with a searching and original analysis of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, rejecting conventional understandings of Darwin in order to probe the logical credentials of his thesis and its implications for Christian theology. From Darwin he moves to the deep rifts that developed between American orthodox, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians on the one hand and liberals and modernists on the other. "

"A hundred years after William James delivered the celebrated lectures that became The Varieties of Religious Experience, one of the foremost thinkers in the English-speaking world returns to the questions posed in James's masterpiece to clarify the circumstances and conditions of religion in our day. An elegant mix of the philosophy and sociology of religion, Charles Taylor's powerful book maintains a clear perspective on James's work in its historical and cultural contexts, while casting a new and revealing light upon the present."

"William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience was an intellectual landmark, paving the way for current study of psychology, philosophy and religious studies. In this new companion to the Varieties, key international experts provide contemporary responses to James's book, exploring its seminal historical importance and its modern significance. Locating the Varieties within the context of James's other works and exploring James's views on psychology, mysticism, religious experience, emotion and truth, the sixteen articles offer new analyses of the Varieties from the perspectives of postcolonial theory, history, social theory and philosophy. As the only critical work dedicated to the cross-disciplinary influence of The Varieties of Religious Experience, this book testifies to William James's genius and ongoing legacy."

"Religion has experienced growing importance in recent years, and interest in the anthropological study of religion has increased as well. This reference book offers a much-needed overview of the most significant topics and concerns in the field. Chapters by expert contributors examine such matters as snake handling, magic and ritual, shamanism, and the role of religion in particular cultures. Chapters contain extensive documentation, and a bibliography concludes the volume."

"Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely as constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. The Believing Primate aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussing evidence in their favour. Philosophical and theological reflections on these accounts follow, offered by leading philosophers, theologians, and scientists. This diverse group of scholars address some fascinating underlying questions: Do scientific accounts of religion undermine the justification of religious belief? Do such accounts show religion to be an accidental by-product of our evolutionary development? And, whilst we seem naturally disposed toward religion, would we fare better or worse without it? Bringing together dissenting perspectives, this provocative collection will serve to freshly illuminate ongoing debate on these perennial questions."

Analyzes the social structure of 50 primitive peoples to show how it determined the form of their religious worship

"The Evolution of Religion: A Re-Examination attempts to show that while religion has evolved like any other cultural entity, the process is not as simple as earlier "evolutionists" of religion have made it out to be."

"This encyclopedia, intended for "a wide readership from high-school students to independent researchers and academics," deals with all aspects of the conflict and dialogue between science and religion. The list of scholars who have contributed is impressive, and the project had as a consultant and contributor Ian Barbour, physicist, theologian, and well-known author on the interplay of science and religion. The editorial point of view is that the formal consideration of the relationship between science and religion has become a new academic field of study. The troublesome potential of new technologies has brought questions into the public arena as well."

DVD

"Job, Jonah, and the Unconscious is the latest work by natural theologian M.A. Corey. It is a ground-breaking synthetic work utilizing the unique perspective of modern depth psychology to interpret the underlying meaning of two of the most fascinating books of the Old Testament, Job and Jonah. In the process it weaves together a unique development perspective on the age-old problem of evil that satisfies both the traditional theologian and the hard- core skeptic. It is able to do this by resorting to a concept of metaphysical necessity that is able to account for the temporary existence of evil in the world, while simultaneously preserving the omnipotence and omnibenevolence of God. The end result of this fascinating study is the elucidation of the cause of moral evil, along with the general defense of traditional monotheistic religion."

" Miller describes this book as an "experimental" response to Walter Wink's call to move from analyzing the Bible to finding ways "to let it analyze us." The six essays collected here do not, however, appear particularly experimental. Like many essays in religious studies that attend to psychological theory, they turn almost exclusively--as the title promises--to Jungian theory. Because this is familiar territory for students and scholars of religious studies, the essays are more successful as practice than as experiment. The redirection proposed by Wink and taken up by Miller is suggestive, but it is a hint rather than a fully developed experiment. Readers might profitably approach the collection as a repetition of, rather than a response to, Wink's invitation to redefine psychological theory in biblical figures--an appropriately "Jungian" goal that could open a window onto the mythological dimension of depth psychologies. Steve Schroeder" From Booklist

"Here is a groundbreaking work with the first comprehensive bibliography of the field in English. As the subtitle indicates, the book first surveys past research and then plots out a recommended course for the discipline. The first section is an inclusive survey of the diverse psychological approaches to scripture from precursors in the early church to the developed approaches of the present. The implications of the researches of Freud, Jung, and the post-Freudians for biblical studies are carefully explored, along with studies of biblical scholars who have employed psychological approaches. Rollins seeks to establish an agenda for psychological criticism as a discipline with biblical studies. Major issues and concerns are addressed and explained in a perceptive and understandable manner.