Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion offers a definitive and intellectually rigorous collection of psychological interpretations of the stories, rituals, motifs, symbols, doctrines, dogmas, and experiences of the worlds religious and mythological traditions. The Encyclopedia applies a wide range of psychological approaches to understanding the form and content of religious experience, at the same time offering insight into the meanings of various symbols and themes of numerous religions. While there are reference works on religion and those on psychology, until now there has been no comprehensive encyclopedia that integrates psychology and religion in the context of current intellectual developments in the social/behavioral sciences. This Encyclopedia that integrates psychology and religion serves as a valuable user-friendly resource for libraries, professionals, and the general reader, and is of particular use to the growing community of researchers, academics, teachers, clergy, therapists, and counselors who are the real opinion leaders in the developing reintegration of religion and psychology. This Encyclopedia, interdisciplinary in approach, represents a rich new contribution to the development of human self-understanding.

Book Description

If religion once seemed to have played out its role in the intellectual and political history of Western secular modernity, it has now returned with a vengeance. In this engaging study, Hent de Vries argues that a turn to religion discernible in recent philosophy anticipates and accompanies this development in the contemporary world. Though the book reaches back to Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, and earlier, it takes its inspiration from the tradition of French phenomenology, notably Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-Luc Marion, and, especially, Jacques Derrida. Tracing how Derrida probes the discourse on religion, its metaphysical presuppositions, and its transformations, de Vries shows how this author consistently foregrounds the unexpected alliances between a radical interrogation of the history of Western philosophy and the religious inheritance from which that philosophy has increasingly sought to set itself apart.

De Vries goes beyond formal analogies between the textual practices of deconstruction and so-called negative theology to address the necessity for a philosophical thinking that situates itself at once close to and at the farthest remove from traditional manifestations of the religious and the theological. This paradox is captured in the phrase adieu (à dieu), borrowed from Levinas, which signals at once a turn toward and a leave-taking from God -- and which also gestures toward and departs from the other of this divine other, the possibility of radical evil. Only by confronting such uncanny and difficult figures, de Vries claims, can one begin to think and act upon the ethical and political imperatives of our day.

Book Description

Jeremy Carrette argues that the psychology of religion is no longer sustainable without a social critique, and that as William James predicted, the project of the modernist psychology of religion has failed. Controversially he champions greater social and philosophical analysis within the field to challenge the political naivety and disciplinary illusions of the traditional approaches to psychology of religion.

Carrette discusses the relevance of the social and economic factors surrounding the debates of psychology and religion, through three critical examples:

• psychoanalysis
• humanistic psychology
• cognitive neuroscience.

A Critical Psychology of Religion provides a new dimension to the debates surrounding religious experience. It will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of critical psychology, religious experience and the psychology of religion and extends an interdisciplinary challenge to the separation of psychology, sociology, politics, economics and religion.

Customer Reviews (1)

Profound, prophetic and transparent.
Jaffe's "Celebrating Soul" is a masterpiece of defining clarity of Jung's brooding labor over human consciousness and future of the human race. Admitting that he reads Jung to be " reawakened to a realm ofmeaning" often forgotten in the pressing "drama of dailylife" puts one in direct contact with the spirit of this book. ... Read more

Book Description
There is currently a burgeoning interest in the relationshipbetween the Western psychotherapeutic and Buddhist meditativetraditions among therapists, researchers, and spiritual seekers.Psychotherapy and Buddhism initiates a conversationbetween these two modern methods of achieving greaterself-understanding and peace of mind. Dr. Jeffrey B. Rubin exploreshow they might be combined to better serve patients in therapy andadherents to a spiritual way of life. He examines the strengths andlimitations of each tradition through three contexts: the nature ofself, conception of ideal health, and process of achieving optimalhealth. The volume features the first two cases of Buddhists inpsychoanalytic treatment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Brilliant, balanced, open view--with pros & cons of each
This book synthesizes psychotherapy & Buddhism.The author notes the strengths & weaknesses of each, balancing them via "egalitarian dialog"/"subjective bifocality"/"reciprocity of perspectives" vs. biased, imbalanced "Eurocentric" & "Orientocentric" views.He cites a psychoanalytic (PA)-Buddhist (B) conference where, p. 51, "psychoanalysts & Buddhists spoke past each other rather than to each other," ignoring potential synergy.His is an, p. 8, "interdisciplinary investigation" (what each could do for the other & the whole); he believes both are valuable yet incomplete.His call for a (p. 9) "multidimensional perspective" describes Buddhism as-near sighted, microscopic, romantically-oriented story, non-self-centered, heterogeneous, particle oriented, while PA is-far-sighted, telescopic, tragedy oriented story, self-centered, homogeneous, wave-oriented [one might add content vs. process & Sensate vs. Intuitive (Myers-Briggs typology)].He quotes (p. 115) Robert Oppenheimer, "The history of science is rich in the example of the fruitfulness of bringing two sets of techniques, two sets of ideas, developed in separate contexts for the pursuit of truth, in touch with each other" while stating that (as pointed out by modern feminist-oriented Buddhist leaders), p. 190, "uncritically grafting the doctrines of one tradition onto another from another age can be problematic" &, p. 193, "How we interpret and evaluate history and human experience is deeply conditioned and irreducibly shaped by the worldview we already hold."For example, p. 73: "There is evidence that the notion of the self did not exist in the Middle Ages."But, his Buddhism is primarily Theravada; he seems unfamiliar with Mahayana, incorrectly saying (p. 19): "Mahayanists believed in a personal god and a divine savior...doctrine of grace."He does, however, address drive-structure & relational PA models w/some references to Jung.

He provides many instances of how each discipline can aid/balance the other including a fascinating case study & numerous anecdotal examples such as: p. 40: Fromm: "meditation can lead beyond the limits of therapy.Psychoanalysts can help meditation avoid `the danger of false enlightenment;' p. 71: "self-nullification is self-deception" quoting Freud, "evenly hovering attention" [provided by meditation] is needed by psychoanalysts; resistance to psychoanalysis parallels resistance to meditation; p. 131: "meditation is potentially subversive of our mode of living.Hence the resistance to it;" Ch. 8: analysts facing suffering w/o reacting benefit from Buddhist equanimity to avoid/reduce stress, burnout; Buddhists can avoid idealizing leaders via PA; p. 165: Transference & Counter-transference--create blind spots; PA's can avoid pathologizing spirituality & recognize the benefits of flow [he doesn't mention Csikszentmihalyi's "Flow"].His multidimensional model reflects, p. 49, "the asymmetrical nature of human development...[since] the complexity & multidimensionality of human experience & development is obscured by linear, hierarchical developmental models;" (e.g. even Ken Wilbur's model is orientocentric).Quoting Alfred North Whitehead, p. 57, "One must look for the assumptions which appear so obvious that people do not know they are assuming them because no other way of putting things has ever occurred to them," p. 115, Freud: "In scientific affairs there should be no place for recoiling from novelty," & citing pp. 62 & 193 Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, he proposes utilizing, p. 195, "a wider range of tools" including, Ch. 9, integration & synergy &, p. 197, open systems to create a "Contemplative Psychoanalysis."In summary, this book is incredibly refreshing (though somewhat technical in parts) in that it begins an actual integration of the two complementary disciplines through an honest critique of each in light of psychological, sociological, & spiritual perspectives.Most highly recommended.After all, "the middle way" is inherently both Buddhist and scientific. ... Read more

Book Description
Are religious practices involving seeing visions and speaking in tongues beneficial or detrimental to mental health? Do some cultures express distress in bodily form because they lack the linguistic categories to express distress psychologically? Do some religions encourage clinical levels of obsessional behaviour? And are religious people happier than others? By merging the growing information on religion and mental health with that on culture and mental health, Kate Loewenthal enables fresh perspectives on these questions. This book deals with different psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, manic disorders, depression, anxiety, somatisation and dissociation as well as positive states of mind, and analyses the religious and cultural influences on each. ... Read more

Book Description
The esteemed editor who brought us the acclaimed four-volume set The Destructive Power of Religion, turns his attention here to a similarly powerful, yet positive side of religion: how our concept of God can fuel healthy body and mind. This book contends that all health--mental and physical--is shaped, for good or ill, by our spiritual, theological, and psychological notions about the nature of God, and by the way we form an outlook on life as a result of these notions. Across history, a large percentage of people have believed that God is a threat, an attitude Ellens describes as "sick gods created through pathological beliefs," or "sick gods that make sick people." But Ellens grounds his brighter perspective in this text on God as a source of unconditional grace and goodwill, then illuminates the effect this perspective has on people who have incorporated it into their minds and lives. Ellens shows that people with firm faith in God's "radical grace" are psychologically strong and healthy. His offering of psychology interfacing with theology is reminiscent of Carl Rogers' teaching on unconditional positive regard and its ability to heal suffering persons. All readers, he explains, can benefit by this understanding that can inspire spiritual and psychological healing whether for ourselves, family, friends, or clients in counseling or therapy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Champions the radical grace of God.
This is an absolutely magnificent book which brings together a lot of the authors previous arguments and conclusions about the Grace of God and its potential impact on human health. Dr Ellens defines Grace as the unconditional, radical, and universal acceptance of God for flawed humanity.Incorporating this concept in ones psychospiritual development is deemed the only hope for the healing of individuals. Ellens holds advanced degrees in both Psychology and Theology, and tackles both these areas in his book.ICannot rate this book highly enough.

God's true nature
Ellen's book casts God in a much more favorable light that the evangelical fundamentalist's perception and removes the warts placed on God by narrow viewed sects and denominations.A pleasure to read as it is informative and uplifting. A healer's perspective of religion, psychology and philosophy gives good insight into many aspects of human nature.


Radical Grace: How Belief in a Benevolent God Benefits Our Health (Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality) ... Read more

Book Description
This book is the first to present new medical research establishing a connection between religion and health and to examine the implications for Eastern and Western religious traditions and for society and culture.The distinguished list of contributors examine a series of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) topics that relate to religious faith and behavior.PNI studies the relationships between mental states and the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems.Among the issues it focuses upon are how mental states, in general, and belief states, in particular, affect physical health.The contributors argue that religious involvement and belief can affect certain neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms, and that these mechanisms, in turn, susceptibility to cancer and recovery following surgery. This volume is essential reading for those interested in the relationship between religion and health. ... Read more

Book Description
The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience is the most comprehensive survey of theories and research on religion from the perspective of psychology. From miracles, visions and zeal to more mundane religious experiences, the authors compare different cultures and different parts of society and use their findings to test explanations of the origins and functions of religion. They conclude that religiosity is social--a product of learning, gender, personality characteristics and culture. They also consider social consequences of religiosity, religious experience, the effect of religion on health, conversion, and the benefit or otherwise of religion. ... Read more

Book Description
Every culture makes the distinction between "true religion" and magic, regarding one action and its result as "miraculous," while rejecting another as the work of the devil. Surveying such topics as Babylonian witchcraft, Jesus the magician, magic in Hasidism and Kabbalah, and magic in Anglo-Saxon England, these ten essays provide a rigorous examination of the history of this distinction in Christianity and Judaism. Written by such distinguished scholars as Jacob Neusner, Hans Penner, Howard Kee, Tzvi Abusch, Susan R. Garrett, and Moshe Idel, the essays explore a broad range of topics, including how certain social groups sort out approved practices and beliefs from those that are disapproved--providing fresh insight into how groups define themselves; "magic" as an insider's term for the outsider's religion; and the tendency of religious traditions to exclude the magical. In addition the collection provides illuminating social, cultural, and anthropological explanations for the prominence of the magical in certain periods and literatures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Man-- Great Book
I guess I must have gotten Dr. Pruyser's book as a gift, because it is signed by the author and I don't recall meeting him. My loss.

His name was familiar to me for a long time because he was at Meninger Clinic and I read about the brothers Menninger and their staff for many years.You just naturally think good things about that staff in that unlikely place in Kansas.

As I so often do, I read this book in bits and pieces, andmarked the book, as I always do, and underlined passages.His section about "Awe" impressed me as the mark of a modest man, as did his acknowledgment that he was a churchgoer.No Humanist or agnostic but a deeply religious man.

Comparing religion to theologists brings to mind Anselm, Aquinas, Athanasius, and Augustine without resorting to the computer.

Further memory dredged up Barth & Barth plus Niebuhr & Niebuhr and finally Buber and, of course Tillich.It took Google to retrieve Pannenberg whom I did not know well at all.

But, as well as I DID know them (and Mann and Dewey, too) they simply lacked the luster and personality that Paul Pruyser displayed.He could have been Hawthorne writng "The Scarlet Letter", his clarity and simplicity was that good.

There are many underlined passages in my copy relating to purely psychological statements and many also relating to such religious themes as eschatology.

I especially loved the paragraphs in chapter 3 concerning the "loaded" (symbolic) phrases in a typical hymn with as many as 20 in a single song.

I cherish the book and though he gives credit to author James, ("Turning of Screw") I am sure that that author would give credit to him.

My hat is off to you, Paul,and to those of you who have read the part about the Dutch churchman and their hats, you will know ahat I mean. ... Read more

Book Description
In this first volume of a three-volume commentary on the book of Psalms, John Goldingay, a creative and respected Old Testament scholar, considers literary, historical, and grammatical dimensions of the text as well as theological implications. Goldingay writes with a scholar's eye and a pastor's heart. The resulting commentary will bring the Psalms to life for a new generation of pastors and students. In addition to the commentary on Psalms 1-41, this volume contains Goldingay's introduction to the entire book of Psalms. Also included is an extensive glossary section treating the vocabulary of Psalms 1-41, which notes how certain words are used to convey critical concepts. This is the third volume in the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pretty good--but be careful
The book was very informative and easy reading. Considering the depth of psychological issues, Faw did a great job. There were some ways in which I thought the author was a little bit too accepting of certain things, suchas hypnosis. (He did, to his credit, say that he does not claim to be righton everything, but is merely suggesting possibilities to be considered.)Although I disagree with him in some areas, I appreciate Faw's willingnessto put aside prejudices and look objectively at the issues. I definitely donot recommend this book for anyone who believes things because they readthem and doesn't think for themself. However, if you can think foryourself, this book will give you some great things to think about. ... Read more

Book Description

Religion and Science is a definitive contemporary discussion of the many issues surrounding our understanding of God and religious truth and experience in our understanding of God and religious truth and experience in our scientific age. This is a significantly expanded and feshly revised version of Religion in an Age of Science, winner of the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence and the Templeton Book Award. Ian G. Barbour--the premier scholar in the field--has added three crucial historical chapters on physics and metaphysics in the seventeenth century, nature and God in the eighteenth century, and biology and theology in the nineteenth century. He has also added new sections on developments in nature-centered spirituality, information theory, and chaos and complexity theories.

Customer Reviews (7)

A good attempt at dialogue
In an era where many in the US believe the universe was made 6000 years ago and Adam and Eve walked alongside dinosaurs, and many religious believers are rejecting the theory of evolution (a keystone of modern science), there is a desperate need to bring religion and science into a better and more fruitful relationship.

The situation unfortunately is not helped with the rigid fanatacism on both sides of the fence, either with theologians who dismiss geology and biology because it contradicts the bible, or who reject advanced biotechnology because of medieval theories of the person, or by scientists like Richard Dawkins who try their best to use science as a hammer with which to smash down all religious systems and myths as worthless fictions which belong in the dustbin of history, and try to whitewash any possible influence religion and religious values may have to offer science or a scientific worldview.

Barbour offers in this work an impartial analysis of the relationship between religion and science and offers four basic modes of how the two human enterprises can relate to each other.While he does offer his own perspective, Barbour is rational in his arguments and avoids getting mired in pointless polemics against theological or scientific oppenents, and lets them be.

This book is of interest to any theologian, philosopher or scientist who is concerned about how religion and science relate to each other, especially in our turbulent times.

Comprehensive, Thought-Provoking, Engaging, Scholarly
"Religion and Science" is an in-depth philosophical discussion of religion and science. Ian Barbour's initial aim is to analyze the goals and methodologies of both science and religion - determining their similarities as well as their differences. The analysis is broad in scope and thorough in detail. Key scientific theories are examined and their metaphysical and theological implications are discussed. Different points of view are given fair consideration as the author takes the reader on an enlightening journey through a history of philosophical thought.

At issue here is what separates scientific truth from religious truth. To be sure the author goes to great lengths to answer this question and the reader will gain a plethora of insights along the way; however, the bottomline is this - namely, that science relies on objectivity while religion on subjectivity.

Is it possible to reconcile the objective truth with the subjective? Yes. How? Answer: "Process Thought."

What is Process Thought? Process Thought (or Process Philosophy as it is sometimes called) is a metaphysical system that views processes instead of irreducible particles or substances as the fundamental constituents of reality. It overcomes the duality of mind and matter by proposing a "dipolar Godhead" - one with both a physical as well as a mental pole. Moreover, it asserts that each process or event has both a mental and physical aspect. Dipolar Theism (the designated term for this viewpoint) "holds that the world is in God (panentheism), a view that neither identifies God with the world (pantheism) nor separates God from the world (theism)." "God includes the world but is more than the world." pg. 295.

Process Philosophy has important implications for both science and religion. It provides a rational basis for resolving the apparent dualism of mind and matter, and thereby reconciles the seeming conflict between science's quest for objective truth and religion's for subjective truth.

This tome is a great work of erudition; It is well-written, engaging and thought-provoking. It will offer you awealth of insights as well as an education in both the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science. This book is highly recommended for the individual who is seriously seeking to reconcile the religious mind-set with the scientific - the intuitive mind with the analytical. You will not be disappointed.

No opposing views please.....
There are so many good things that can be said about this book.It is broadening, thought provoking, and stimulating. Ian is an evolutionary theologian, a term I use to describe one who believes God has directed and guided evolution to bring about humankind.If you have chosen to adopt God created the universe and human beings specifically, in this manner, you will indentify with its contents.When we tackle the questions and issues contained in this book, we can only come away saying no one really knows the answers-- the conclusion of Hawking in a Brief History of Time.With all his broad mindedness expressed throughout the book, I was so disappointed in one statement he makes relative to intelligent design (called 'Creation Science') and those who espouse it.

He says in respect to those who try in our educational system to
acquire some time for an opposing view in our school cirriculum,the following:"But when absolutist positions lead to intolerance and attempts to impose particular religious views on others in a pluralistic society, we must object in the name of religious freedom."Who turns out to be the narrow mind wanting no opposition, demanding he only understands the mysteries of the universe?"

Interesting but ...
Barbour's book is interesting and, I think, worth a careful read.The first part of the book, which focuses on the historical dialogue between science and religion, is particularly good.His treatment of modern scientific thought and some of the controversies therein is worthwhile, as well.The author emphasizes the interrelatedness of science and religion and the respective ways in which they create knowledge.It is pretty clear that Barbour writes from a liberal, pluralist Christian perspective.Most of his examples and expertise seem to focus on the Christian tradition but he does talk about Buddhism a bit.The position that is perhaps least represented is that of the conservative, Bible believer. This book is best read as a summary of various philosophies as Barbour's theology is flawed.

On Dinosaurs and Liberals
I find Barbour's book deeply offensive on several counts. First and foremost is the assumption underlying his entire project that somewhow science provides a kind of massive analogy for metaphysical speculation (see page 180). It is as if one has to forget the Kant ever lived. And this isn't just a small analogy here and there that Barbour is attempting. It is supremely monolithic. His basic working premise within his larger assumption -- of science driving our knowledge of God -- is that there is some kind of "dynamic and interconected" reality in the cosmos (ibid.). Changing, but still there (remember Kant?)in some kind of "intial aim" and "coherence." Of course Barbour is hanging his hopes on the eventuality of that greatest of all the secular desiderata -- a unified field theory. And what will that look like. Kind of like Anselm's God that is even greater than that which we CANNOT conceive?
But forget Kant, he is too difficult, too old, too dead. Let's talk Pomo. This is after all "ontic-theology" writ large across the entire cosmosmology. And you thought "phallo-logocentricism" died along with the dinsosaurs? Well wake up all you Branch Derrideans, you slumbering skeptics! Here comes Barbour!With yet another remake of Whitehead-does-God.How many categories do you we need? 138 at my last counting! (Only 7 in Process and Reality -- you better keep reading!) Boys and girls, do we got boxes for you!But we can now rest assured, God is not dead. On the contrary, he has been fully cataloged, compartmentalized, duly noted, and filed away, perhaps, for further use. Barbour has managed to de-transcedentalize the transcendal signifier in ways that Caputo, Taylor and Vattim could never even of imagined.
But I am not even sure if Barbour's God was evertranscendental. "It" surely was never omnipotent (page 326).And if God is not ominpotent then what of "transcendence"? What exactly might "God" be other than just another sytematically ambiguous signifier? -- not even a "transcendental" one! (Mixing my Wittgenstein and Derrida here -- but don't worry, Barbour has apparently read neither).
This "God" of Barbour's, like all of Process theology, is a God stripped of the history of the Christian Church. It is a new God, a better God, a one-size-fits-all. This is that weird kind of old liberal theology which will not die its final death, because it is kept alive on the artificail life support of that one strain of ossified university, seminary and divinity School style of theology. Stripped of the stories of Jesus, of the martyrs, of the councils, the great debates, the wars and the saints, we have a theology with out "theos," an "ology" with no subject matter but the metaphysical speculation of an obsolete professional class.
And ethics? Is there any sense of ethical resposibiltiy or obligation in this sytstem without a heart and without a face?There is an "interrelatedness" in this "continued journey toward greater harmony and enrichment" certainly (page 326). And is that supposed to be meaningful? The furthest Barbour can drag himself towards the ethical, is too quote that other dinosaur John Hick and say that the world is "an appropriate place for moral action" (page 302). Oh boy! But "process thought goes further" says Barbour (the excitment is almost unbearable). Because process theology knows that "evoulution is a long, slow, step-by-step process." Wow! Inspired for moral action and duty yet? I would say that is about as exciting as Walter Rauschenbusch, Hebert Spencer, and the rest of the social gospelers and evolutionists of over a hundred years ago.
If your idea of God is an amoral "process" stripped of all historicity and neatly compartmentalized for any liberal view, this is the book for you. Obviously, the only requirement for you to join the club, is that you must view all conservative Christians as "literalists," "absolutists," and equivialant to "nazis" (pages 82-85).Well, that should just about take care of half of all the practicing Christians in America. No need to "dialogue" with them! Kind of makes you wonder who the book was written to in the first place? (Maybe that tiny set ofliberal "process" academicians of a dinosaur-persuasion?) ... Read more

Book Description
This text is intended to help counselors and other mental health practitioners make informed and effective interventions with clients for whom religion and spirituality are significant concerns. It is comprehensive, providing information on religious systems and spiritual beliefs as well as clinical strategies and interventions. Throughout the text, the author weaves the theme in of understanding how the counselor's own worldview and values impact working with clients and offers activities and cases for exploring this further. ... Read more

Product Description
A new analysis of human nature and behavior in biblical perspective by two evangelical experts. This comprehensive textbook discusses four key aspects of the human person by exploring the relationship between origin and destiny, substance and identity, function and behavior, and relationships and community. The authors argue that an integrated approach of theology and psychology not only enhances our understanding of what it means to be human, but is also key to that understanding. ... Read more

Book Description
What are the implications of a client's image of God?

Improve your confidence—and your practice skills—by enhancing your knowledge of how individuals are likely to perceive God, and of how those perceptions impact the way they function as human beings. Theologians have long speculated and theorized about how humans imagine God to be. This book merges theology with science, presenting empirical research focused on perceptions of God in a variety of populations living in community and mental health settings. Each chapter concludes with references that comprise an essential reading list, and the book is generously enhanced with tables that make data easy to access and understand.

"Liberating Images of God" discusses the constriction and impoverishment of God images due to the traditional restrictions of God images to those that are male and personified. This chapter examines the potential for the client and counselor's co-creation of images of God which embrace the feminine as well as the masculine, the nurturer as well as the warrior, and the natural world in all its dimensions as well as the human world, to liberate, enrich, sustain, and transform the client's relationships with God and with him/herself.

"Attachment, Well-Being, and Religious Participation Among People with Severe Mental Disorders" examines the relationship between attachment states of mind and religious participation among people diagnosed with severe mental illness.

"Concepts of God and Therapeutic Alliance Among People with Severe Mental Disorders" explores the transferential aspects of God representation among severely mentally ill adults. It highlights research on the relationship between a patient's image of God and that patient's working relationship with his/her case manager, and discusses the implications for clinical practice of those findings.

"The Subjective Experience of God" presents a theory about the psychological basis for the experience of God that argues that this experience is essentially a form of projection and as such is an internal event that does not exist independent of an individual's psyche. This chapter draws a distinction between faith in a particular belief—namely, faith in the existence of a loving, omnipotent God—and an attitude of faith, which is the basis for experiences of transcendence.

"Relationship of Gender Role Identity and Attitudes" presents the results of a study in which nearly 300 Catholic attendees at three university Catholic centers completed the Bern Sex Role Inventory, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, and the Perceptions of God Checklist. This chapter looks at images of God as masculine or feminine, and at the connection for people between the way they perceive God and the way they relate towards men and women.

"Reflections on a Study in a Mental Hospital," brings you groundbreaking new research on perceptions of God in an inpatient population. This chapter examines the positive effects (as opposed to the negative effects previously portrayed by the psychological community) of religious belief and practice for residential care patients in a psychiatric hospital. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Compilation of Research, Theory, and Practice
Clinicians who work with religious clientele often hear narratives about the part that God plays in clients' lives. This emotional role that God plays is known as the God image. Sometimes God is more central, other times at the periphery, but usually important. Clinicians often want to address this area in treatment, but they have few resources available to help them make sense of clients' God images.

Richard Dayringer and David Oler have compiled a compendium of works to help shed light on God image work. The majority of the book is comprised of interesting empirical studies. Two chapters explore the largely unchartered territory of the God image and severe mental illness. Another study addresses gender role identity and the God image. A fourth empirical contribution discusses the formation of adolescents' God images. The other chapters are smart, philosophical, reviews of the God image construct that have implications for pastoral counseling and other forms of clinical work.

A central theme that runs loosely through The Image of God and the Psychology of Religion is an openness to understanding the different ways of experiencing God. Authors are careful to not limit the experience of God to any one tradition. Similarly, they advocate closely following the client's own understanding of God as a resource in pastoral counseling. This flexibility takes place in the context of larger theoretical frameworks. Several chapters provide ways of making sense of and conceptualizing the God image. Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approaches are clearly described with a particular emphasis on projection theory and object relations. Similarly, attachment theory is discussed and empirically evaluated. Finally, behavioral or socialization theories along with cognitive consistency paradigms are also covered.

One limitation of The Image of God and the Psychology of Religion is that some of the chapters are loosely connected to one another. This is often a complaint of compilation works and maybe even more so of this work because it was co-published as a special series in the American Journal of Pastoral Counseling, Volume 7, November 2004. Regardless, however, the editors were clear that their intention was to provide a variety of voices and perspectives - some of which more closely relate to certain contributions than others.

Overall, however, Dayringer and Oler have provided a welcome addition to the God image literature. The contributors have covered fresh ground and added to other areas that were only lightly explored. Readers will find empirical support to help them better understand how certain populations understand and experience God. They will also find rich narratives that capture the complexities of God image work.

... Read more

Book Description

Does violence inevitably shadow our ethico-political engagements and decisions, including our understandings of identity, whether collective or individual? Questions that touch upon ethics and politics can greatly benefit from being rephrased in terms borrowed from the arsenal of religious and theological figures, because the association of such figures with a certain violence keeps moralism, whether in the form of fideism or humanism, at bay. Religion and Violence: Philosophical Perspectives from Kant to Derrida's careful posing of such questions and rearticulations pioneers new modalities for systematic engagement with religion and philosophy alike.