A list of especially noteworthy books for the study of psychology and religion. For your convenience, links connect to the online bookseller that has given me the best service, Amazon.com.
Psychology of Religion Main Page
Psychology of Religion List of Books
A list of especially noteworthy books for the study of psychology and religion. For your convenience, links connect to the online bookseller that has given me the best service, Amazon.com.
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Focused on clinically relevant aspects of religion and spirituality, this volume is written by clinicians with expertise in four areas: Foundations in the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality; Mystical and Spiritual Experiences; Religion, Spirituality, and Emotional and Physical Health; and Reflections and Future Directions. Each chapter is written by clinical researchers with significant expertise in the area, and offers a description of research along with relevant assessment and therapy strategies in that area. The publisher is offering this volume at a 10% savings - click here for the coupon (pdf). Or, you can click the image to purchase a new or used copy from amazon. |
This book, developed by the World Psychiatric Association's Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry Section, offers an outstanding collection of chapters dealing with mental health and religion. Its editors, Peter J. Verhagen, Herman M. van Praag, Juan J. Lopez-Ibor Jr., John L. Cox., and Driss Moussaoui, have assembled a great variety of chapters dealing with topics that are of great interest to psychologists studying religion. The breadth of chapters is too great to address adequately in one review, so I will deal with the book in terms of the themes it covers. It begins with a section "Prolegomena: History, Philosophy, Science and Culture". Here we have four chapters that set the stage for the issues that follow. The chapters deal with the topics of evil, philosophical problems, science and transcendence, and spirituality & mysticism. These present a good overview of core considerations when thinking about religion and mental health. Part Two, "Main Issues: The Interface Between Psychiatry, Mental Health and Major Religious Traditions," focuses on core issues that psychiatrists may need to address when dealing with people in various world religions. Here we have seven chapters, written regarding Judaism, Christianity, Islam, African Religion, Hinduism, Buddhism in Japan, and Theravada Buddhism. The material here is comparable to that found in books such as Richards & Bergin's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity and Dowd & Nielsen's The Psychologies in Religion, although generally briefer, but its chapter on African Religion is unique. Part Three, "Core Issues: Religion and Psychopathology," mainly investigates psychopathology in four of its chapters:
Part Four, "Research Issues", is distinct from the other sections of the book because some of its chapters report empirical studies of religion, whereas others emphasize conceptual elements. One chapter, focusing on morocco, offers an interesting glimpse into Islam and mental health in that country and, in some ways, represents a continuation of the themes in Section Two. Part Five, "Interdisciplinary Issues: Psychotherapy, Pastoral Care and Meaning Giving," consists of three chapters dealing with therapeutic issues. These include religion and countertransference; people's assumptions about spirituality, mental health and pastoral care; and the search for meaning in a case study of schizophrenia. The latter chapter asks good questions about the ease with which we deal with facts, vs. the difficulty of dealing with existential questions. Part Six, "Controversial Issues: Religion and the Brain," offers three chapters. It begins with the limitations of science and its relevance to religion. Next is a chapter on neuro-theology and evidence that biological processes explain away religious experience. (Inspecting that evidence, the author concludes that it does not.) This is followed by a similar chapter, with the author concluding that much of religiosity can accounted for by these factors. Part Seven, "Training Issues; Residency Training and Continuous Education," includes two chapters dealing with these issues. One focuses on the training of psychotherapists, and the other emphasizes multicultural aspects and offers a model curriculum that might be employed to improve the educational process. The Epilogue: "Proposal for a World Psychiatric Association Consensus of Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry," is informative to psychologists of religion for the way that colleagues in mental health are attempting to deal with religion in the therapeutic setting. This chapter would be of great utility to members of Division 36 and the Council of Representatives of APA. In sum, Religion and Psychiatry: Beyond Boundaries is an outstanding book. One might quibble with specifics, such as the uneven coverage of topics in Part Two, but to do so would risk seeing the great wealth of information and perspectives in this volume. This is a book on par with Paloutzian and Park's "Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality," albeit emphasizing somewhat different issues. Psychologists and advanced students will find much to work with in "Psychiatry and Religion: Beyond Boundaries." |
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You may not be aware that there is a very active group of scholars studying the psychology of religion in Italy. Some of their work has been documented in a series edited by Mario Aletti and his colleagues, and published by the Centro Scientifico Editore. The books grew from conferences of the Italian Society for the Psychology of Religion. Of course, a more basic question you may be wondering is just what you might gain from these books, given that they may be written in a language you do not read. First, some basics about the books. Nearly all of the chapters (papers) begin with an abstract written in English. Many of them have several chapters written entirely in English, as well, so that they can reach a broader audience. Now let me say just a few words about each of them. L'illusione religiosa: rive e derive One of the highlights of this book is "Vicissitudes of Self, Object, and God Representations During Psychoanalysis," by Ana-Maria Rizzuto. I found her descriptions of Mr. T, "the man who wanted to be God", and Ms. O, "the atheist in the hands of 'the powers'" to be fascinating. I am not a psychoanalyst, but I understand the psychoanalytic framework better through this chapter. Another chapter I found interesting was that by Marta Ferrero, "The Idea of God among Psychology Faculty Students." Ferrero reports on a survey about belief in God among psychology students. Whereas most of the students (70%) did not deny the existence of a Superior Being, Ferrero found that only 5% shared a Christian concept of God. The vast majority of students also reported that psychology and faith are not in conflict with each other, but only if the two are separated. The abstract paints a picture of psychology students who are less inclined toward religion than are other students in Italy, a finding that mirrors data I have seen concerning psychology in the US. Antoine Vergote's chapter "A Key Conflict Questioning Religion and its Psychology" is another worth your attention. He addresses issues related to religious identity and pluralism. What happens to identity when a religion encounters pluralistic trends? Vergote suggests that conflicts are inevitable, perhaps even desirable, and that "... we wish the dead person, not ourselves, to rest in peace." This paper ranges from Plato to Rokeach. He concludes that psychological factors are present when we encounter dogmatism in religion. Vergote favors an "inner sectarian retirement", in which conflict is dealt with by affiliating with other dogmatic religious people who can act as a form of support network, but who do not promote interlant, exclusivistic commitments. Dogmatism goes askew when it features an "intolerant commitment to promote one's belief or to even repress the expressiosn of other beliefs and ideas" (p. 288). Although many of the papers in this book are psychoanalytic in their orientation toward religion, Germano Rossi's paper, "Religious Knowledge on 15-18 Year Old Italian Catholic Students: A comparison after 10 years," presents a statistical comparison of teenagers' knowledge of religion. The comparisons are too extensive to fully cover here, but among the findings is a reduction in the difference between male and female students in terms of their knowledge of religion. This occurs in the context of an overall decline in religious knowledge among the teens he sampled. The decline appears to be mitigated by religious involvement; those who prayed or attended Sunday mass knew more about religion than those who did not. Males whose parents were more educated also had greater knowledge of religion. Finally, Mario Aletti's paper on "Teaching Psychology of Religion in Italy" offered great insight to psychologists interested in religion. Aletti began by trying to survey Spain, Greece and Italy, but encountered difficulty extending the investigation to Spain and Greece. (As a result, he concludes that the psychology of religion does not have much of a presence in those countries.) In Italy there are more courses taught, and the problems he cites may resonate with faculty in other countries. In state universities, the psychology of religion is considered a very new course -- if it is offered at all. When it appears, it is more likely to be in seminar form, often in the context of other courses such as social or developmental psychology. In Pontifical Universities and Faculties, there is a somewhat better situation, with the psychology of religion or pastoral psychology more likely to be offered. Still, it is a discipline on the margins of academia. He characterizes the courses as leaning toward psychodynamic, developmental, or social-cognitive, depending on the faculty teaching them. He also notes the importance of the Italian Society of Psychology of Religion in facilitating scholarship, including student research. Aletti concludes with words that many psychologists in other countries could voice: "The real difficulty, however, lies in convincing the institutions -- both academic and ecclesiastical -- that the Psychology of religion is essentially a psychological discipline, and that its object is psychological in nature, not primarily religious" (p. 317). The next book in this series Professor Aletti sent me is Religious Identity, Pluralism , Fundamentalism, which he and Germano Rossi published in 2004. It compiles another set of papers addressing the theme of religious identity, pluralism and fundametalism. Rather than summarize this book, or its highlights, I have made available the abstracts of the chapters at this page. The papers all are in Italian, but the abstracts are in English. Judging from the summaries, this book will be of great use to those who study fundamentalism, pluralism and their relationship to identity. The third book, Religion: Culture, Mind and Brain, includes chapters in both English and Italian. It offers many different perspectives on the question at hand, from psychoanalytic to neuroscience. The chapters by Belzen, Antonietti, and Reich appear in both English and Italian, and are well worth reading. You can view the summaries here. These books are worth adding to your library if you are a serious researcher in the area. You can find them directly on the Centro Scientifico Editore website (search "religiosa"), or you might be able to find them through Fetchbook, which aggregates new and used books in North America. (Supplies at Fetchbook vary, of course, as inventories at book sellers change.)Thanks to Prof. Aletti for offering them to me so that I can relay the highlights to you. |
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David Myers may be the most successful textbook author in psychology today. Many students' first exposure to psychology comes through one of his introduction to psychology texts, and for years my students have benefited from the clear writing in his social psychology text. In his Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists, Myers now addresses the question of religious belief, and what the benefits and costs of belief are. Myers writes this book as a sort of open response to the several books published recently decrying religious belief by authors such as Dawkins and Harris. As they point out, religious belief is associated with many ills that plague the world. Their books are worth adding to your library, but until Myers' book, there has been little from people of faith to counter the skeptics' arguments. In his Friendly Letter, Myers acknowledges teh harm that can accompany religious belief, but also notes that religious belief can bring benefits to people and society. He thoroughly grounds his book in psychological research, and frames his argument in terms that skeptics appreciate. This is because, as Michael Shermer notes, Myers "is both a skeptic and a theist, a world-class debunker of all things nonsense, and yet a man of faith." Myers' Friendly Letter is a thoughtful addition to the ongoing science-religion dialogue and, regardless of your position on the issues, it is well-worth your time to read this book. Whether you find yourself siding more with the skeptics or with the "faith-heads" (Myers' term), you will come awawy with a greater appreciation for the evidence on both sides. |
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In this worthwhile book you will find in-depth examinations of several ongoing issues in the psychology of religion. Belzen has assembled some of the world's foremost psychologists of religion, such as David Wulff and Hendrika Vandekemp to lend their insights on a wide range of issues, personalities and events that the field has faced. These include
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An insightful series of articles addressing problems of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. This book, published in 1999, is especially timely because of the recent events affecting the church. As Dr. Plante points out in his article on the subject, even though this is an issue that one church is grappling with, it is certainly not limited to only Roman Catholics. Aimed at clinical psychologists and others who deal with sexual abuse among clergy, this book focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of sexual abuse among priests. To order the book from amazon.com, click this link. |
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Studies in religion can be ponderous and "heavy". Herman Krieger offers an alternative with his photo essay of religious life in the U.S. His photos and captions demonstrate a sharp eye for wit, humor and irony. In many ways, this book functions as a projective test-- whatever your views regarding religion, you will find photos that bring a smile to your face. This little book is a gem! Read the review of Churches ad hoc at amazon.com to learn more! You also can view his work online. |
A witty glimpse into religion
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With the terrorist attack that took place September 11, 2001, people are seeking answers. One important issue that the attack brings up is the role of fundamentalism in the world's religions. Terror in the Mind of God has received very good reviews in the academic community and among the broader public. I highly recommend that you consider reading this book and learning more about the ways that extreme religious views can affect people's behaviors. The connection between belief and behavior is important if we are to understand our world. |
Understanding Religious Extremism
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| When Does Religion Help?
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by Kenneth I. Pargament Read about one of the most interesting -- and important -- programs of research in the psychology of religion. Dr. Pargament and his students have spent years investigating the ways that religion helps people cope with stressful events in their lives. The kinds of questions that Pargament asks are fascinating: When faced with apparent death, what prompts some people to use prayer, while others do not? Why does religion seem to help some people, but not others? Pargament provides thoughtful answers to these questions, and he offers a theory to help explain the research findings of scores of studies. The book is well-written, and suitable both for people new to psychological research, and to other scholars. More importantly, the message is an enlightening glimpse into the intersection between psychology and religion. I highly recommend The Psychology of Religion and Coping |
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This book is an excellent examination of the "religious orientation" research that has guided hundreds of psychological studies of religion. In it, you read about Allport's intrinsic and extrinsic orientations toward religious events, and Batson's quest orientation. Batson and his colleagues offer a readable introduction to the research literature. This book does not offer a survey of the many different perspectives that psychologists bring to the field. What it does offer is an excellent study of religious orientation, describing how this line of research can be used to better understand the motivations behind religious behavior & belief, and the consequences of religious belief on mental health and social behavior. Although written from the perspective of social psychology, the authors also address concerns relevant to clinical and developmental psychology. Read Religion and the Individual to learn more! |
Examines the role of Existential Questions
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| A Profound and Touching Message
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by Mitch Albom This simple book leaves you with an enduring message. Mitch Albom describes his last class with Morrie Schwartz, held during the final weeks of Morrie's life. In these encounters we learn about a teacher who brought love to many lives, and we are reminded of the things that are truly important. Tuesdays with Morrie describes how one man affected millions of people with his genuine and guileless story. As I read this book I laughed, I cried, and I was inspired to live a better life. Tuesdays with Morrie isn't a typical psychology of religion book, but it brings to light many of the things that religion strives for. Available in regular and large print editions as well as an unabridged audiotape edition. |
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Among the celebrations of our arbitrary demarcations of time are special lists of noteworthy events. If you are like me, you take such lists with a grain of salt, but they do offer us an opportunity to remember the accomplishments of the past. Here are the top 10 religion books, as judged by HarperSanFrancisco, a leading publisher of books on religion and spirituality. If you are looking for a good book on religion, these are some excellent options to consider.
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Religion Books of the Century
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| An Excellent Starting Point
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by Ray Paloutzian If you are new to psychological research on religion, an excellent starting place is Paloutzian's Invitation to the Psychology of Religion. Here you will learn the kinds of questions that psychologists ask about religion, and how those questions are answered. This book has a well-deserved reputation for being accessible to a wide variety of readers, and is one of the most frequently used books in college classes dealing with psychological studies of religion. My students are among the many who have found Paloutzian's writing interesting and easy to comprehend. See for yourself why it is a highly recommended book! Check it out from your library, or click for a personal Invitation to the Psychology of Religion. |
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by Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Bernard Spilka, Bruce Hunsberger, & Richard Gorsuch This is the best available source of information concerning psychological research on religion. Each of the authors are without doubt among the finest researchers in the field, and their work forms the basis for much of what we know about religious belief and behavior. Combine their efforts, and it is no wonder that this book is an excellent resource. I confess that I don't care for the endnote system that the publisher uses in this book, but I simply can't say enough good about its contents. I use this book in my class, and when someone asks me a question about psychology and religion, I turn to this book more often than any other to find the source of the research. If ever there were a one-volume encyclopedia on current research in psychology and religion, this is it! I highly recommend Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach.
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The Best in Current Psychological Research
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| Broad in Scope
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by David M. Wulff David Wulff provides the best available summary of the diverse perspectives commonly taken in psychological studies of religion. Wulff describes American and European views of psychology of religion, and he addresses the current and historical approaches that typically divide books on the subject. The breadth of research discussed includes biological, behavioral and comparative perspectives, along with more commonly-found social psychological perspectives. The theories of Freud, Erikson, Jung, and William James are described, as are contemporary object relations perspectives. For a broad-based view of the field, you would be hard-pressed to find a book better than Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary.
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by William James Your library is incomplete without this classic book. James examines religion by analyzing people's experiences. He takes a respectful approach to the subject, while at the same time trying to maintain objectivity. The personal accounts contained in the book are fascinating, and include first-person experiences of such luminaries as Tolstoy, as well as less well-known people. These accounts give the book a sense of intimacy that makes psychology of religion exciting to study, and they convey the power that religious experience exerts in people's lives. Because the original text is in the public domain, the book is very affordable in either softcover or hardcover editions. The hardcover also includes several other of his works, such as his "The Meaning of Truth."
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A Classic For Every Library
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| About This Page:
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To help you find useful books, I offer these links to amazon.com, a well-known internet bookstore. Every few weeks, I will highlight particularly worthwhile books from those found among my resources page. I will include only those that I personally have found to be interesting and helpful for myself or my students. Likewise, I am offering these links to amazon.com because I have received excellent service from this store. If you have a question about a book, feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to give you a helpful reply.
Department of Psychology Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA 30460-8041 USA |
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