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Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
From foremost authorities in the field, this comprehensive volume synthesizes the breadth of current knowledge on the psychological processes underlying spirituality, religious behavior, and religious experience. Presented are cutting-edge theories, conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and empirical findings emerging from all psychological subdisciplines. Coverage includes the neural and cognitive bases of religiousness; social, personality, and developmental issues; religion as a meaning system; and implications for behavior, mental health, and clinical practice. Seamlessly edited, the Handbook provides a definitive portrait of the current state of the science, fosters the development of integrative theory, and identifies vital directions for future research.
590 pages, Hardcover
First published August 24, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 24, 2014
Since I agreed to write a review for this book, I am including it here:
This is the second edition of a substantial encyclopedia and text book for the psychology of religion and spirituality. In thirty three chapters, the book seeks to review the professional and theoretical ideas from the 2005 book by the same name and to assess and evaluate what has happened in the field, particularly in terms of research. This goal is achieved through a thorough and diverse series of topics. The majority of the chapters are by professors of psychology and sociology. The “look inside” function of Amazon allows you to see the credentials for the authors as well as the titles of the chapters. (http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Psycho...)
A notable absence in the list of authors is Harold Kronig who has written extensively on on religion and health. He is referenced in the text of the book but is
This book is intended for people who reflect on these topics, both formally and informally. These people may be teaching, learning, doing research or providing service.
As related to Pastoral Care, Chaplaincy, and Spirituality, the book offers a thorough, complex and open minded review of multiple sources of information. The authors cite research from the field that is thought provoking and even handed, though some will find them too religious and others, not religious enough. This would be an interesting journal club for a group of chaplains.
This volume covers a wide range of topics: the relationship between religion and spirituality, research methods and measurement for this field, how the field interfaces with psychodynamic psychology, evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology, religious and spiritual development in childhood, adolescence, middle adulthood, and old age, religious conversion, spiritual transformation, mystical experience, religious and spiritual struggles, ritual, prayer, fundamentalism, forgiveness, religious aspects of self control, moral behavior and coping, the relationship of religion, spirituality to physical and mental health, and coping, religion and meaning, mindfulness and a final chapter on directions for the future.
Reading this text we can appreciate the complexity of our profession as spiritual and religious care providers. We can challenge ourselves and our colleagues to examine preconceived ideas, beliefs and convictions through the growing related research from neuropsychology, sociology and human sciences. While grounded in tradition, our field has important contributions to make to these emerging ideas. This book helps us to speak the language of science with more wisdom and conviction.
Many chapters may be of particular interest to chaplains. For example, Zinnbauer and Pargament examine the differentiation of spirituality from religiousness, noting that these are multidimensional constructs. Instead of polarizing these terms, confining religiousness to the social institutional context and spirituality as a personal phenomenon, they suggest that respondents identify themselves as both spiritual and religious. There is a growing subgroup who refer to themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” This parallels the recent article by STEVEN BARRIE-ANTHONY (The Atlantic, JAN 14 2014 which documented that, “A fifth of Americans check “none” on surveys of religious preference. Among the young adults under 30 who helped propel Obama into office, a full third check “none.” We encounter this subgroup in chaplaincy and our work is to meet them where they are with compassion and understanding.
Limitations of the book: This book is a textbook, an encyclopedia, a literature review. As such it is complex and challenging reading about nebulous topics which have emotional connections. Some of our assumptions may be challenged in the process.
There are additional resources that could compliment the work such as:
The Handook of Religion and Health, Second Edition Harold Koenig, Dana King Verna B. Carson. The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice by Kenneth I. Pargament PhD. Invitation to the Psychology of Religion by Raymond F. Paloutzian. Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity, Second Edition and An Introduction to Worldview Issues, Philosophical Foundations, and Models of Integration both by David N. Entwistle
This is the second edition of a substantial encyclopedia and text book for the psychology of religion and spirituality. In thirty three chapters, the book seeks to review the professional and theoretical ideas from the 2005 book by the same name and to assess and evaluate what has happened in the field, particularly in terms of research. This goal is achieved through a thorough and diverse series of topics. The majority of the chapters are by professors of psychology and sociology. The “look inside” function of Amazon allows you to see the credentials for the authors as well as the titles of the chapters. (http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Psycho...)
A notable absence in the list of authors is Harold Kronig who has written extensively on on religion and health. He is referenced in the text of the book but is
This book is intended for people who reflect on these topics, both formally and informally. These people may be teaching, learning, doing research or providing service.
As related to Pastoral Care, Chaplaincy, and Spirituality, the book offers a thorough, complex and open minded review of multiple sources of information. The authors cite research from the field that is thought provoking and even handed, though some will find them too religious and others, not religious enough. This would be an interesting journal club for a group of chaplains.
This volume covers a wide range of topics: the relationship between religion and spirituality, research methods and measurement for this field, how the field interfaces with psychodynamic psychology, evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology, religious and spiritual development in childhood, adolescence, middle adulthood, and old age, religious conversion, spiritual transformation, mystical experience, religious and spiritual struggles, ritual, prayer, fundamentalism, forgiveness, religious aspects of self control, moral behavior and coping, the relationship of religion, spirituality to physical and mental health, and coping, religion and meaning, mindfulness and a final chapter on directions for the future.
Reading this text we can appreciate the complexity of our profession as spiritual and religious care providers. We can challenge ourselves and our colleagues to examine preconceived ideas, beliefs and convictions through the growing related research from neuropsychology, sociology and human sciences. While grounded in tradition, our field has important contributions to make to these emerging ideas. This book helps us to speak the language of science with more wisdom and conviction.
Many chapters may be of particular interest to chaplains. For example, Zinnbauer and Pargament examine the differentiation of spirituality from religiousness, noting that these are multidimensional constructs. Instead of polarizing these terms, confining religiousness to the social institutional context and spirituality as a personal phenomenon, they suggest that respondents identify themselves as both spiritual and religious. There is a growing subgroup who refer to themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” This parallels the recent article by STEVEN BARRIE-ANTHONY (The Atlantic, JAN 14 2014 which documented that, “A fifth of Americans check “none” on surveys of religious preference. Among the young adults under 30 who helped propel Obama into office, a full third check “none.” We encounter this subgroup in chaplaincy and our work is to meet them where they are with compassion and understanding.
Limitations of the book: This book is a textbook, an encyclopedia, a literature review. As such it is complex and challenging reading about nebulous topics which have emotional connections. Some of our assumptions may be challenged in the process.
There are additional resources that could compliment the work such as:
The Handook of Religion and Health, Second Edition Harold Koenig, Dana King Verna B. Carson. The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice by Kenneth I. Pargament PhD. Invitation to the Psychology of Religion by Raymond F. Paloutzian. Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity, Second Edition and An Introduction to Worldview Issues, Philosophical Foundations, and Models of Integration both by David N. Entwistle
September 14, 2018
This handbook is divided into six parts that
focus on progress since the first handbook
was published in 2005. In reading the
chapters and checking the dates on the
references, I found that, for the most part,
the authors provided sufficient context to
track the historical trajectory of a particular
subfield even though the focus is on the
proliferation of research in the past eight
years. Both the subject and author indexes
are extensive and will serve readers well in
tracking a particular topic. For example,
entries for the following topics include
multiple subtopics taking up more than half
of a column: Developmental Psychology,
Forgiveness, Meaning systems, Mental
health, Moral concern, and Religious
coping. In contrast, several high profile
media topics garnered a few pages of
references (number in parentheses): abortion
(1), homosexuality (4), LBGT or LGBTQ
(0).
focus on progress since the first handbook
was published in 2005. In reading the
chapters and checking the dates on the
references, I found that, for the most part,
the authors provided sufficient context to
track the historical trajectory of a particular
subfield even though the focus is on the
proliferation of research in the past eight
years. Both the subject and author indexes
are extensive and will serve readers well in
tracking a particular topic. For example,
entries for the following topics include
multiple subtopics taking up more than half
of a column: Developmental Psychology,
Forgiveness, Meaning systems, Mental
health, Moral concern, and Religious
coping. In contrast, several high profile
media topics garnered a few pages of
references (number in parentheses): abortion
(1), homosexuality (4), LBGT or LGBTQ
(0).
May 15, 2009
This volume does have a very pro-christian/pro-religious slant to most chapters, which can be difficult to wade through if one does not agree with those perspectives. It is also a compilation, which leads to many redundancies as several authors rehash what was said by others previously in the book. Beyond that, I did find many portions to be thought provoking and it does manage to cover a wide range of topics within the field, leaving a chapter or two that almost anyone interested in the field would find worth reading despite their personal biases.
October 22, 2015
It's so nice to have a book-length literature review of an entire subject. I wish more of the social sciences would bother to do this. A concise, yet thorough review (albeit a little dated). I also didn't detect any sort of a pro-religious slant that another reviewer mentioned; it seemed fairly dispassionate in its presentation of the evidence.
September 16, 2014
Interesting perspective looking at religion from a psychological viewpoint.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews