Metapsychology and Discourse: A Note on Some Neglected issues in the Psychology of Religion

Based on a brief discussion of some of the classic problems in the psychology of religion, the concepts metapsychology and discourse are introduced as pointing to the hitherto neglected task of developing adequate models of the inner world (metapsy- chology) and analyzing the written or spoken discourse of religious experience. Finally, it is argued that an inclusion of this more hermeneutic research agenda points in the direction of a reconceptualized psychology of religion, that is, a scientific discipline with a broadened self-understanding and a more independent status vis-a-vis mainstream psychology.