Integrating Psychology, Religion, and Culture

Although science was originally broadly conceptualized as a systematic, rigorous activity to produce trustworthy knowledge, psychologists, those following the mainstream, adopted a single philosophy of science and strictly enforced natural science as the only proper “scientific” psychology. Qualitative research has been part of modern psychology from the beginning, but it was obscured for nearly a century as positivist epistemology came to dominate the field. Building culturally robust and intelligible theories capable of responding more effectively to complex problems faced by a rapidly changing world calls for openness in methodological diversity. Deeply rooted in a hermeneutic tradition, cultural psychology has challenged the appropriateness of seeking reductive knowledge because higher mental processes such as religious beliefs, values, and choices are bound by historical and cultural context. As greater interdisciplinary integration and methodological innovations are necessary to keep psychology of religion relevant, narrative inquiry has emerged as a promising integrative paradigm.

Conjectures and Controversy in the Study of Fundamentalism

Although psychology of religion has amassed a significant empirical literature on religious fundamentalism, it largely has ignored the sociohistorical context within which Protestant fundamentalism arose and has relied uncritically upon such popular notions as militancy, anti-modernism, and global fundamentalism in much of its research. This monograph will critically review sociohistorical reconstructions of fundamentalism that have heavily influenced the views of society and psychologists; discuss problematic concepts that emerged from those reconstructions; and highlight theories based on the social dynamics of fundamentalism. Focus on these issues will underscore the need for a critical review of empirical research, which is reserved for a second monograph.

Taking Psychoanalytic and Psychometric Perspectives toward a Binocular Vision of Religion

Current psychology of religion relies mostly on quantitative psychometric approaches for the description, explanation, or prediction of religious experience and behavior, risking narrow reifications of operational definitions and neglect of individual experience. Psychoanalytic concepts are rarely addressed, due to being seen as lacking a scientific foundation, such as hypothesis testing based on large samples. Psychoanalysts have been slow to discuss religion without suspicion of pathology. Recently, psychoanalysts have broadened their empirical work and a “narrative turn” is discernible in developmental and personality psychology, allowing the inclusion of subjective perspectives. Drawing on these developments a rapprochement of psychodynamic and psychometric approaches is suggested to gain more depth of vision. Examples are given for the areas of development, personality, and psychotherapy.

Terror Management Theory

From the perspective of terror management theory (TMT), the awareness of death is problematic as it has the potential to increase anxiety. It would be hard to function when faced with this fear; thus, people defend themselves from heightened mortality awareness by adhering to their cultural beliefs (e.g., religion, nationalism), having positive self-views (i.e., self-esteem), and/or turning toward their relationships with close others. The purpose of the current volume is to introduce readers to the field of experimental existential psychology (broadly) and TMT (specifically). To do this, Section 1 will provide an introduction to the field, along with discussing methodological considerations when conducting terror management research. Section 2 was written to discuss some of the applied implications of TMT as it is relates to close relationships, religion, politics and law, positivity, and existential growth. Much work from a terror management tradition has been interested in how death concerns affect physical and psychological health. Because of this, Section 3 will introduce two variations of TMT (i.e., Terror Management Health Model [TMHM] & Anxiety-buffer Disruption Theory [ABDT]), with implications for individuals’ well-being. Finally, Section 4 will discuss alternative perspectives and controversies within the field. Throughout this volume, we provide a discussion on potential avenues of future study.

Flesh and Blood

Fears and stories about an underground religion devoted to Satan, which demands and carries out child sacrifice, appeared in the United States in the late twentieth century and became the subject of media reports supported by some mental health professionals. Looking at these modern fantasies leads us back to ancient stories which in some cases believers consider the height of religious devotion. Horrifying ideas about human sacrifice, child sacrifice, and the offering to the gods of a beloved only son by his father appear repeatedly in Western traditions, starting with the Greeks and the Hebrews. This publication focuses on rituals of violence tied to religion, both imagined and real. The main question of this work is the meaning of blood and ritual killing in the history of religion. The publication examines the encounter with the idea of child sacrifice in the context of human hopes for salvation.

Psychology and Religion within an Ideological Surround

For over three decades, an Ideological Surround Model (ISM) has pursued theoretical and methodological innovations designed to enhance the ‘truth’ and ‘objectivity’ of research into psychology and religion. The foundational argument of the ISM is that psychology as well as religion unavoidably operates within the limits of an ideological surround. Methodological theism, therefore, needs to supplement the methodological atheism that dominates the contemporary social sciences. Methodological theism should operationalize the meaningfulness of religious traditions and demonstrate empirically that the influences of ideology cannot be ignored. The ISM more generally suggests that contemporary social scientific rationalities need to be supplemented my more complex dialogical rationalities. Beliefs in secularization should also be supplemented by beliefs in trans-rationality.