The Psychology of Religion in Australia

Reasons for the late emergence of the psychology of religion in Australia include the history and growth of psychology, early resistance of institutional religion to a scientific study of religion, changes in direction of psychology in the 1960s, and renewed interest in the study of religion after World War 2. Research in Australia between 1960 and 1990 reveals three trends: theory-based, phenomena-based, and combined approaches. Contemporary cultural influences, including secularization, urbanization, multiculturalism, and the changing status of women and Aboriginals, challenge and present opportuni- ties for the psychology of religion in Australia.     

The Body in the Psychology of Religion

Hutch's position that psychology of religion has neglected the mortal body is affirmed but reinterpreted. Although it may be true that psychology has adopted as postmodern bias toward defining the human being as primarily cognitive, it is less true that the psychology of religion has been unaware of how religion emerges from the experience of living. Noting that Hutch could be understood as a modern Romantic, I reinterpret, in an alternate frame- work, his contention that reexperiencing the sexuality and mortality of the body will reinstate eros into the psychology of religion. The I story model of Donald McKay and the existential paradigm of Reinhold Niebuhr are of- fered as reconceptions of what Hutch is proposing. These theorists state Hutch's position in ways that allow for a more substantive picture of what religion is and how it emerges from the life process.     

The Future of Psychology of Religion

Pastoral Psychology -     

The Psychology of Religion and the Concept of Revelation

It is argued that the psychology of religion should be seen as interacting with theology in a broader way than is usual at present, especially in relation to the concept of revelation. Examination of revelatory experiences, especially Christ’s resurrection appearances, may be seen in terms of this broader interaction not only as solving certain historical puzzles, but as bringing to fruition Arthur Peacocke's hope for application to spiritual experience of understandings of divine action that have been developed within the science–theology dialogue. The pluralistic implications of this approach are examined, and the possibilities open to psychologists in relation to both interpretation and research strategies are outlined. It is stressed that what is required is not simply interdisciplinarity, as this is usually understood, but transdisciplinarity of the kind that questions the boundaries and methodologies accepted by specialists in one or other of the disciplines concerned.     

An Attachment-Theory Approach Psychology of Religion

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as origi- nally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion. The essay begins with a brief over- view of contemporary models of attachment, with particular emphasis on adult attachment relationships. Selected literature is reviewed concerning a variety of topics in the psychology of religion, including research on images of God, conversion, and prayer, and attachment theory is shown to provide a useful conceptual framework for integrating these findings. It is argued that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit religion researchers as well as social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness.     

The Replication Crisis and Qualitative Research in the Psychology of Religion

ABSTRACT

This article forms a contribution to the discussion on the “replication crisis” in psychology from the qualitative research perspective and qualitative-oriented psychology of religion. The main theme of our article is, how should we deal, as qualitative-oriented psychologists of religion, with the issue of replicability? The introductory part of the article concentrates on validity criteria within qualitative-oriented research, and why qualitative-oriented psychologists of religion should take them into consideration in their research projects. Next, a typology of approaches (Intuitive, Field, Pragmatic, Synthetic), toward replication within qualitative studies is presented. Alongside discussing the possible ways of making qualitative research more replicable, examples of good practices in that matter are discussed. Some takeaway tips for qualitative-oriented psychologists of religion, that are to be used in order to make their research more replicable, are presented in the concluding part. Promoting CAQDAS, developing clear research protocols and procedures, describing the cultural context of the research in detail and discussing methodological issues and barriers/limitations of the study in a separate section are one of the main ideas postulated in the article, that should be included in the future qualitative studies on religion (s). The article concludes with a plea of sorts, that qualitative-oriented researchers do need to pay more attention to methodological issues while designing a research project, keeping in mind that it can (and should) be replicated in the future.     

Psychology,Religion, and Spirituality

This study focused on the relation between the manner in which pray-ers perceive God (God concept) and their tendencies to choose various prayer types. A sample of 114 Jewish Israeli religious men responded to multidimensional measures of God concept (Benevolent, Evaluation, Omniness, Guiding, and Deisticness) and of prayer type (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, Reception). Canonical correlation analysis uncovered a significant canonical model. Two canonical functions, explaining a total of 36.5% of the variance, were selected for interpretation. Function 1 indicated a perception of God as a benevolent and guiding God together with supplicative prayer. Function 2 indicated a perception of God as a meaningful and close God with active thanksgiving prayer. These results provide support for the notion that the manner in which an individual perceives God and the manner in which that individual chooses to pray to God are indeed related.     

The 1976 Lancaster Psychology of Religion Colloquium: An evaluation

William A. Graham Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam—a Reconsideration of the Sources, with Special Reference to the Divine Saying of Hadîth qudsî 1977, Mouton The Hague/Paris ,xvii, 266 pp

Janice Dean Willis (trans.) 202 p. $15.00 On Knowing Reality: The Tattvārtha Chapter of Asanga's Bodhisattvabhūmi 1979 Columbia University Press New York 202 p. $15.00

John Ferguson, Jesus in the Tide of Time: An Historical Study, London and Henley Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980. xi+249 pp. £9.75

David Parry, OSB Households of God 1979 Darton, Longman &; Todd London, £4.50

Annemarie Schimmel and Abdoldjavad Falaturi We Believe in One God: The Experience of God in Christianity and Islam 1st German edition 1975 181

W. Owen Cole Piara Singh Sambhi The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices 1978 Routledge &; Kegan Paul London, 204 pp

W.H. McLeod The Evolution of the Sikh Community 1976 Clarendon Press Oxford, 114 pp

Carlo Caldarola, Christianity: The Japanese Way, (Monographs and Theoretical Studies in Sociology and Anthropology in Honour of Nels Anderson, Publication 15)Leiden, E.J. Brill 1979. 234 pp. Gld. 58

W. Kendrick Pritchett The Greek State at War Part III: Religion 1979 University of California Press, 353 pp. £13.50 ($28.00)

Harold W. Turner From Temple to Meeting House: The Phenomenology and Theology of Places of Worship 1979 Mouton Publishers The Hague, xiv+404 pp. DM 98 $61.50     

The Reconstitution of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion

For the Internationale Gesellschaft für Religionspsychologie (International Association for the Psychology of Religion [IAPR]), its XIVth conference, held on September 28-30, 2001, in Soesterberg, The Netherlands, was an important event. Although the terrorist attacks on the United States (September 11, 2001) prevented several colleagues from traveling to The Netherlands, the conference attracted a substantial number of participants from 20 countries, most of them European, but also including colleagues from Australia, India, and the Americas. The central topic, "Coping with religion"-an ambivalent formulation, chosen on purpose to bring to the fore a variety of perspectives on psychology's dealing with religion in theory, research, or therapy-allowed for fascinating plenary sessions and a wealth of interesting paper sessions, in which also psychological research other than that related to coping was also reported. Most important for this short note is a report on the General Meeting of the membership of the IAPR.     

Researcher Degrees of Freedom in the Psychology of Religion

ABSTRACT

There is a push in psychology toward more transparent practices, stemming partially as a response to the replication crisis. We argue that the psychology of religion should help lead the way toward these new, more transparent practices to ensure a robust and dynamic subfield. One of the major issues that proponents of Open Science practices hope to address is researcher degrees of freedom (RDF). We pre-registered and conducted a systematic review of the 2017 issues from three psychology of religion journals. We aimed to identify the extent to which the psychology of religion has embraced Open Science practices and the role of RDF within the subfield. We found that many of the methodologies that help to increase transparency, such as pre-registration, have yet to be adopted by those in the subfield. In light of these findings, we present recommendations for addressing the issue of transparency in the psychology of religion and outline how to move toward these new Open Science practices.     

The Psychology of Gender Differences in Religion: A Review of Empirical Research

This paper presents, discusses and evaluates empirical studies concerned with gender differences in religion. Within the psychology of religion two main groups of theories have been advanced to account for gender differences in religiosity. The first group of theories concentrates on social or contextual influences which shape different responses to religion among men and women. This group may be divided into two categories: gender role socialisation theories and structural location theories. The second group of theories concentrates on personal or individual psychological characteristics which differentiate between men and women. This group may be divided into three categories: depth psychology theories, personality theories and gender orientation theories. It is concluded that gender orientation theories provide the most fruitful source for further research.     

American Psychology of Religion and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

It is doubtful whether there ever has been a rise‐fall‐rebirth of the psychology of religion. While the claim has marginal merit for American academic psychology, it has little application in other cultures or even within American psychology of religion outside mainstream psychology. The psychology of religion has always been and remains tied to key individuals who sustain the field. This historical fact is important in understanding the role of the JSSR in the field. Early psychologists of religion such as Hall and James set the pattern for two distinctively different approaches to the psychology of religion. Hall's approach was methodologically restrictive, inherently reductive, and came to dominate the academic psychology of religion. James ‘approach was methodological plural, receptive to the evidential force of religious experience, and quickly marginalized within American psychology. These opposing orientation continue to influence the psychology of religion in societies such as the SSR and its journal. A review of the psychologist editors of JSSR illustrates that the psychology of religion remains a marginal interest of mainstream psychology. It survives because of the interdisciplinary nature of the SSSR and its journal.     

Religion in the Psychology of Personality: An Introduction

This article presents an overview of this special issue of the Journal of Personality on religion in the psychology of personality. I begin with a brief historical overview in which I highlight the discrepancy between the vision of early personologists and how religion is handled today within the field of personality. I then consider how contemporary research and theory can profit by incorporating religious and spiritual constructs and processes. As personality psychologists purport to study the whole person, the relative neglect of religiousness in the current literature is a serious omission that precludes a comprehensive understanding of the person.