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The Religion War
by Scott AdamsIn this frenetically paced sequel to Adams' best-selling "thought experiment," God's Debris, the smartest man in the world is on a mission to stop a cataclysmic war between Christian and Muslim forces and save civilization. The brilliantly crafted, thought-provoking fable raises questions about the nature of reality and just where our delusions are taking us.With publication of The Religion War, millions of long-time fans of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoons and business bestsellers will have to admit that the literary world is a better place with Adams on the loose spreading new ideas and philosophical conundrums.Unlike God's Debris, which was principally a dialogue between its two main characters, The Religion War is set several decades in the future when the smartest man in the world steps between international leaders to prevent a catastrophic confrontation between Christianiy and Islam. The parallels between where we are today and where we could be in the near future are clear.According to Adams, The Religion War targets "bright readers with short attention spans-everyone from lazy students to busy book clubs." But while the book may be a three-hour read, it's packed with concepts that will be discussed long after, including a list of "Questions to Ponder in the Shower" that reinforce the story's purpose of highlighting the most important-yet most ignored-questions in the world.
Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by Sharada SugirtharajahThis book explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, humanistic, and health perspectives. Taking a non-binary approach, it considers how happiness in particular has been understood and appropriated in religious and non-religious strands of thought. The chapters offer incisive insight from a variety of perspectives, including humanism, atheism and major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Together they demonstrate that although worldviews might vary substantially, there are concurrences across religious and non-religious perspectives on happiness that provide a common ground for further cross-cultural and interreligious exploration. What the book makes clear is that happiness is not a static or monolithic category. It is an ongoing process of being and becoming, striving and seeking, living ethically and meaningfully, as well as arriving at a tranquil state of being. This multifaceted volume makes a fresh contribution to the contemporary study of happiness and is valuable reading for scholars and students from religious studies and theology, including those interested in interreligious dialogue and the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology.
Religious and Spiritual Issues in Counseling: Applications Across Diverse Populations
by Mary Thomas Burke Jane Carvile Chauvin Judith G. MirantiReligious and Spiritual Issues in Counseling is a comprehensive resource for counselors, psychotherapists and psychologists seeking to understand and incorporate the spiritual dimension of a client's person, and to use this understanding in developing successful intervention strategies with clients. Including case studies and exercises for self-exploration, this book covers specific groups, such as the elderly, the homeless as well as multicultural populations. Human development concerns are integrated into the book and address the changing role that spirituality plays throughout the lifespan.
Religious and Spiritual Practices in India: A Positive Psychological Perspective
by Kamlesh Singh Gaurav SaxenaThis book explores the positive psychological aspects of religion and spirituality in the Indian context. It discusses the concepts and practices of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, and Sikhism and their impact on overall well-being. As the global enthusiasm for Indian spirituality grows, this book brings together scholars to share their perspectives and reflections on various religious aspects. The chapters offer readers a psychological "capsule" of mental health, well-being, compassion, kindness, character strength, mind-body relationship, and mindfulness, providing practical strategies for a better quality of life.Furthermore, this book offers insights into the different perspectives of happiness and well-being measured across diverse demographics. It also provides a qualitative conceptualization of happiness among older people, reflections on positive aging, and highlights the facilitators and inhibitors of happiness. With its comprehensive coverage and multidisciplinary approach, this book serves as a valuable reference for postgraduate and doctoral students of Psychology, as well as a treasure trove in the libraries for researchers and faculties associated with spiritual psychology, positive psychology, religious studies, comparative literature, mental health professionals, academicians, and anyone interested in allied health fields.
Religious Beliefs, Evolutionary Psychiatry, and Mental Health in America
by Kevin J. FlannellyThis book provides a new perspective on the association between religious beliefs and mental health. The book is divided into five parts, the first of which traces the development of theories of organic evolution in the cultural and religious context before Charles Darwin. Part II describes the major evolutionary theories that Darwin proposed in his three books on evolution, and the religious, sociological, and scientific reactions to his theories. Part III introduces the reader to the concept of evolutionary psychiatry. It discusses how different regions of the brain evolved over time, and explains that certain brain regions evolved to protect us from danger by assessing threats of harm in the environment, including other humans. Specifically, this part describes: how psychiatric symptoms that are commonly experienced by normal individuals during their everyday lives are the product of brain mechanisms that evolved to protect us from harm; the prevalence rate of psychiatric symptoms in the U. S. general population; how religious and other beliefs influence the brain mechanisms that underlie psychiatric symptoms; and the brain regions that are involved in different psychiatric disorders. Part IV presents the findings of U. S. studies demonstrating that positive beliefs about God and life-after-death, and belief in meaning-in-life and divine forgiveness have salutary associations with mental health, whereas negative beliefs about God and life-after-death, belief in the Devil and human evil, and doubts about one's religious beliefs have pernicious associations with mental health. The last part of the book summarizes each section and recommends research on the brain mechanism underlying psychiatric symptoms, and the relationships among these brain mechanisms, religious beliefs, and mental health in the context of ETAS Theory.
Religious Conversion: a Bio-Psychological Study
by Sante de SanctisThis is Volume II of six in a collection on Psychology and Religion. Originally published in 1927, this is a Bio-Psychological study with a special aim (the reconstruction of the empirical Ego), and its own method (introspection).
Religious Experience and Self-Psychology: Korean Christianity and the 1907 Revival Movement
by Jung Eun JangThis book explores the 1907 Korean Revival Movement from a self psychological perspective. The examination of the psychological processes in the movement based on Heinz Kohut's self psychology can shed light on religious experiences as selfobject experiences by identifying the sense of defeatedness and helplessness that Korean people experienced under Japanese occupation as what Kohut calls self-fragmentation of the Korean group self and explaining its therapeutic functions which facilitate potential for the narcissistic nourishment of the fragmented group self leading to renewed self-esteem, transformation, and empowerment of the Korean people. Korean people in the early 1900s experienced abuses and oppression by corrupt officials and exploitation by Japanese government. Through religious experiences which emphasized the individual repentance, the experience of God through the spirit, emphasis on prayer, and eschatological faith, the Korean Revival Movement in 1907 enabled its followers to experience mirroring and idealizing selfobjects which function as a role of transforming the lower shape of narcissism into the higher one.
Religious Experience in Trauma: Koreans’ Collective Complex of Inferiority and the Korean Protestant Church (Asian Christianity in the Diaspora)
by KwangYu LeeThis book offers a psychohistorical analysis of the rapid growth of the Korean Protestant Church. KwangYu Lee looks at some of the traumatic historical events of Korea in the 20th century, including the fall of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), and the Korean Military Dictatorship (1961-1987), and explores the psychological impacts of these events on the collective unconsciousness of Koreans. He argues that Koreans’ collective (or cultural) complex of inferiority, which was caused and gradually exacerbated by these traumatic events, along with their psychological relationships with their two colonizers—the Japanese and Americans—prompted them to convert to Korean Protestantism en masse as a means to avoid their psychological pains and to fulfil their futile desire to become like Americans, their overtly idealized psychological-object.
Religious Experience Reconsidered: A Building-Block Approach to the Study of Religion and Other Special Things
by Ann TavesHow the sciences of the mind can advance the study of religionThe essence of religion was once widely thought to be a unique form of experience that could not be explained in neurological, psychological, or sociological terms. In recent decades scholars have questioned the privileging of the idea of religious experience in the study of religion, an approach that effectively isolated the study of religion from the social and natural sciences. Religious Experience Reconsidered lays out a framework for research into religious phenomena that reclaims experience as a central concept while bridging the divide between religious studies and the sciences.Ann Taves shifts the focus from "religious experience," conceived as a fixed and stable thing, to an examination of the processes by which people attribute meaning to their experiences. She proposes a new approach that unites the study of religion with fields as diverse as neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to better understand how these processes are incorporated into the broader cultural formations we think of as religious or spiritual. Taves addresses a series of key questions: how can we set up studies without obscuring contestations over meaning and value? What is the relationship between experience and consciousness? How can research into consciousness help us access and interpret the experiences of others? Why do people individually or collectively explain their experiences in religious terms? How can we set up studies that allow us to compare experiences across times and cultures?Religious Experience Reconsidered demonstrates how methods from the sciences can be combined with those from the humanities to advance a naturalistic understanding of the experiences that people deem religious.
The Religious Function of the Psyche
by Lionel CorbettTraditional concepts of God are no longer tenable for many people who nevertheless experience a strong sense of the sacred in their lives. The Religious Function of the Psyche offers a psychological model for the understanding of such experience, using the language and interpretive methods of depth psychology, particularly those of C.G. Jung and psychoanalytic self psychology. The problems of evil and suffering, and the notion of human development as an incarnation of spirit are dealt with by means of a religious approach to the psyche that can be brought easily into psychotherapeutic practice and applied by the individual in everyday life. The book offers an alternative approach to spirituality as well as providing an introduction to Jung and religion.
Religious Fundamentalism: Global, Local and Personal
by Peter HerriotHow does a religious fundamentalist come to embrace a counter-cultural world view? Fundamentalism can be analysed from a variety of perspectives. It is a type of belief system which enables individuals to make sense of their lives and provides them with an identity. It is a social phenomenon, in which strictly religious people act according to the norms, values, and beliefs of the group to which they belong. It is a cultural product, in the sense that different cultural settings result in different forms of fundamentalism. And it is a global phenomenon, in the obvious sense that it is to be found everywhere, and also because it is both a reaction against, and also a part of, the globalising modern world. Religious Fundamentalism deals with all of these four levels of analysis, uniquely combining sociological and psychological perspectives, and relating them to each other. Each chapter is followed by a lengthy case study, and these range from a close textual analysis of George W. Bush’s second inaugural speech through to a treatment of Al-Qaida as a global media event. This book provides a comprehensive social scientific perspective on a subject of immense contemporary significance, and should be of use both to university students and also to students of the contemporary world.
Religious Fundamentalism and Social Identity
by Peter HerriotThe attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the United States of September 11th, 2001 brought the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism to the world's attention.Sociological research has clearly demonstrated that fundamentalists are primarily reacting against modernity, and believe that they are fighting for the very survival of their faith against the secular enemy. But we understand very little about how and why people join fundamentalist movements and embrace a set of beliefs, values and norms of behaviour which are counter-cultural. This is essentially a question for social psychology, since it involves both social relations and individual selves. Drawing on a broad theoretical perspective, social identity theory, Peter Herriot addresses two key questions: why do fundamentalists identify themselves as an in-group fighting against various out-groups? And how do the psychological needs for self-esteem and meaning motivate them? Case studies of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers, and of the current controversy in the Anglican Church about gay priests and bishops, demonstrate how fruitfully this theory can be applied to fundamentalist conflicts. It also offers psychologically sensible ways of managing such conflicts, rather than treating fundamentalists as an enemy to be defeated. Religious Fundamentalism and Social Identity is unique in applying social identity theory to fundamentalism, and rare in that it provides psychological (in addition to sociological) analyses of the phenomenon. It is a valuable resource for courses in social psychology which seek to demonstrate the applicability of social psychological theory to the real world.
Religious Hair Display and Its Meanings (Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach #4)
by William C. Innes, JrThis book explores the fascinating world of religious hair observances within six religious traditions that account for 77% of the world’s adherents: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Symbolic use of hair has been, and remains, prevalent in all six and carries significant amounts of religious and social meaning. Hair is a unique body substance. It can be shaped and colored, removed from us without pain but still retain an individual’s essence, signal our age, sex, and sexual maturity, and much, much more. The book’s approach is to situate each practice within its tradition. That requires a study of its foundational leaders and their teachings, sacred texts (where they mention hair), its rites and rituals, ideas of religious power and subsequent historical development. Contemporary practitioners are interviewed for their motivations. Even more insight can be gleaned by searching beyond an overt religious purpose. Social scientists from anthropology, sociology, psychology, and related fields bring their research to deliver added perceptions.The author reveals how hair practices are created from ancient psychological and cultural impulses, become modified by time, culture and religious intent, and are adopted by adherents for reasons ranging from personal religious expression to group identity. This book is written for the interested observer of our increasingly diverse society and for the student of comparative religion and sociology. It will change forever how you see hair.
Religious Hatred and Human Conflict: Psychodynamic Approaches to Insight and Intervention
by Andrew Floyer AclandReligious Hatred and Human Conflict focuses the lens of psychodynamic psychology on a phenomenon that often confounds conventional thinking – the intensity of conflict with religious or quasi-religious dimensions. The book highlights six dimensions of religion: identity, doctrine and practice, emotion and experience, mythology, sacred values and power and control, exploring how these can give rise to religious hatred and lead to marginalisation, persecution and even genocide. It also explores reasons for the evolution of religion and religious hatred, and their relationship with human behaviour through contemporary issues such as fundamentalism, martyrdom, clerical narcissism and apocalyptic belief. Acland examines how religious hatred and conflict may be transcended by facilitating processes of dialogue and diapraxis which enable a systematic understanding of prejudices and projections. Last, it offers practical methods and strategies for helping individuals and communities grow beyond the constraints of religious hatred, treating religious hatred as a psycho-spiritual problem that requires self-understanding. Identifying the implications for professionals in conflict resolution and mediation, politicians, community leaders, diplomats and anyone working to prevent or reduce conflict where religious belief is a factor, this book sets out how those tasked with intervening can respond to the challenges involved. It will also be highly relevant reading for students and researchers of psychology and religious studies.
Religious Orientation and Authoritarianism in Cross-cultural Perspective: A Special Issue of the international Journal for the Psychology of Religion
by Raymond F. PaloutzianFirst published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations
by Jesper Svartvik Jakob WirénReligion can heal, but it can hurt as well. This collection of essays addresses some key issues of religious stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, and considers a wide range of important topics which haunt our societies today. When stereotyping becomes the oxygen we inhale, when it is so important to us that we cannot see how we can survive without it - what can and should we do? Twenty-two scholars from Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America explore the anatomy of various forms of stereotyping and ways to oppose them.
Religious Theories of Personality and Psychotherapy: East Meets West
by Frank De Piano Ashe Mukherjee Scott Mitchel Kamilar Lynne M Hagen Elaine Hartsman R. Paul OlsonIntegrate spiritual traditions with psychological healing!In this fascinating volume, clinical practitioners of different religious traditions examine the same clinical case, offering insights, interventions, and explanations of transformation and healing. This practical approach allows them to explore broader issues of personality theory and psychology from the perspectives of various spiritual traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Religious Theories of Personality and Psychotherapy addresses both the practical issues of doing psychotherapy and the deeper need to relate psychology and theology. After providing a thorough introduction to the spiritual tradition, each author presents a critical psychological theory of personality and psychotherapy grounded in that tradition. The authors address the questions of what it means to be a person, what causes human distress, and how individuals experience healing. Religious Theories of Personality and Psychotherapy offers profound insights into the urgent issues of human suffering and psychological transformation, including: theories of personality structure and human motivation the nature of experience and processes of change the dialectical relation of theology and psychology convergences and difference among the religious psychologiesMarrying theory and practice, spirit and psyche, Religious Theories of Personality and Psychotherapy offers profound insights and effective interventions. Mental health professionals, clergy, and scholars in religion, cross-cultural studies, personality, counseling, and psychotherapy will find this breakthrough book a life-changing experience and an invaluable resource.
Religious Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence (Psychology Revivals)
by Ronald GoldmanFirst published in 1964, Religious Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence describes the capacities of pupils of varying ages, abilities and backgrounds to understand religious truths. How concepts of the Bible, of God, of Jesus, of Prayer and of the Church developed from the early years is seen within the psychological context of maturing thought, and the implications for religious education, which are provocative and far-reaching, are explored. Teachers, clergy and parents will find this book a challenge to reconsider not only how the growing child views what he is taught but also the reasons why he frequently misunderstands religious teaching. By presenting a systematic account of religious thinking from 6 to 17 years, Dr. Goldman adds a new dimension to our insights into child development.
Religious Trauma, Queer Identities: Mapping the Complexities of Being LGBTQA+ in Evangelical Churches
by Joel HollierIn a polarised milieu that too often posits “queer” and “Christian” as competing realms, this book explores the complexities of identity development, religious traumatisation, and the task of creating safe faith spaces in which LGBTQA+ people can find healing, particularly in the Evangelical context. First, Joel Hollier examines the historical path of Evangelicalism, providing context for the current terrain of the “culture war” we find ourselves in. He then parses out experiences of gender/sexuality and religious/spiritual identity development, grounding them in an evolving theoretical base. Finally, Hollier offers a rounded critique of Evangelical church structures and mechanisms of trauma that hinder the healing process, along with potential sources of healing. Central to this work are the voices of LGBTQA+ people whose stories weave together a deeper understanding of the harms the Church has perpetrated, and the path forward.
Religious Understandings of a Good Death in Hospice Palliative Care (SUNY series in Religious Studies)
by Harold Coward Kelli I. StajduharWinner of the 2012 AJN (American Journal of Nursing) Book of the Year Award in the Hospice and Palliative Care categoryIn the 1960s, English physician and committed Christian Cicely Saunders introduced a new way of treating the terminally ill that she called "hospice care." Emphasizing a holistic and compassionate approach, her model led to the rapid growth of a worldwide hospice movement. Aspects of the early hospice model that stressed attention to the religious dimensions of death and dying, while still recognized and practiced, have developed outside the purview of academic inquiry and consideration. Meanwhile, global migration and multicultural diversification in the West have dramatically altered the profile of contemporary hospice care. In response to these developments, this volume is the first to critically explore how religious understandings of death are manifested and experienced in palliative care settings.Contributors discuss how a "good death" is conceived within the major religious traditions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Chinese religion, and Aboriginal spirituality. A variety of real-world examples are presented in case studies of a Buddhist hospice center in Thailand, Ugandan approaches to dying with HIV/AIDS, Punjabi extended-family hospice care, and pediatric palliative care. The work sheds new light on the significance of religious belief and practice at the end of life, at the many forms religious understanding can take, and at the spiritual pain that so often accompanies the physical pain of the dying person.
Reliving Past Lives: The Evidence Under Hypnosis
by Helen WambachTells of how to recall and learn from your past lives using techniques such as hypnosis.
Relocation, Gender and Emotion: A Psycho-Social Perspective on the Experiences of Military Wives (The\exploring Psycho-social Studies Ser.)
by Sue JervisThis book has two main aims: firstly, to provide a rare, detailed description of the use of a psychoanalytically informed, reflexive research method to achieve an in-depth understanding of social phenomena; and secondly, to throw some much needed light onto the complex, intrapsychic and interpersonal influences that impact upon "military wives" who accompany members of the British Armed Forces to postings overseas. These arguments are particularly relevant at a time when the military is over-stretched, given that unhappy wives can adversely affect the retention of servicemen. This is an important contribution to the on-going development of psycho-social studies.
The Reluctant Empath
by Bety Comerford Steve WilsonThis valuable guide will help you understand what it means to be an empath, why you feel what you feel, and how to share the wonderful opportunities the gift of empathy offers you to heal yourself, those around you, and the world. With this book, readers learn to discern the truth when people's words do not match their emotions, to use fearlessness to protect yourself, and to tap into the vibrational energy of love.
Remaking Men: Jung, Spirituality and Social Change
by David TaceyThe nature of masculinity is a popular subject for contemporary authors, either treated critically from a sociological standpoint, or analysed from a psychological and spiritual perspective.In Remaking Men, David Tacey argues that we must strive to bridge the gap between these separate traditions - masculinity should neither be hijacked by the spiritual, Jung-influenced men's movement, nor discussed merely as a product of socio-political forces.Examining his own and other men's experience in a critical and lively discourse he evades the simplistic optimism of the 'inner journey' approach and the chronic pessimism of contemporary academic arguments. This is a fascinating and very accessible look at masculinity for those who want to explore self and society with intelligence and soul.
Remaking Social Work for the New Global Era
by Ngoh Tiong Tan P. K. ShajahanFuture social work practice requires a holistic framework to deal effectively with the great social and economic disruptions of this unprecedented time. Innovation and creativity are indispensable to empowering social workers and social service organizations to make an impact on the lives of people and societies in today's world. This book provides a range of innovative practices of social work drawing from alternate theories and with a global orientation. It is forward-looking with a focus on social resilience, social inclusion and recovery. Using a strengths perspective, discussions in the chapters provide useful insights in restructuring social life and social services at the individual as well as community and societal levels for meeting the challenges of a new global era.The chapters draw on the experiences of the authors in their academic and practice engagements and focus on a variety of arenas of social work education and practice to enrich the understanding of the present and future of the field. Authors discuss theoretical and conceptual models to review social work education and practice of engaging in a fast-changing global era and complex contexts. Topics explored include:New Era for Social Work in the Global FutureRemaking Social Work by Applying an Anti-oppressive LensVulnerability and Resilience of Refugee Women and ChildrenCritical Green Social Work as Futuristic Social Work PracticeGlobalisation and the Future of Social Work Practice and EducationEquipping Social Workers for a New Global EraRemaking Social Work for the New Global Era is an essential resource to inform practice, enrich teaching, and direct future research for social work academics, researchers, educators, students, and field supervisors, as well as social care, social work and social service practitioners in both clinical and policy settings. The book also would be of interest to mental health and community professionals in various practice contexts across the globe.