“The Case for Theological Literacy in the Psychology of Religion”: Introduction to a Theme Issue

Abstract

The Editor introduces a theme issue of Journal of Psychology and Theology on “The Case for Theological Literacy in the Psychology of Religion,” based on symposium presentations at the 1986 SSSR annual meeting. From diverse religious and theological vantage points, the lead articles make the case for theological sophistication in the Psychology of religion. Four responses, one from the symposium and three which were sought by the editor, contribute to the issues from evangelical and psychological perspectives.

The Problem of Appropriate Psychology of Religion Measures for Non-Western Christian Samples with Respect to the Turkish-Islamic Religious Landscape

“…However, especially for the purpose of religious studies, these measures are inappropriate for straightforward adaptation to non-Western civilizations and cultures by standard translations. Consequently, researchers in the psychology of religion, especially those who are interested in cross-cultural and cross-religious studies-as Glock (1972) points out, the real challenge lies in the cross-cultural study of religious commitment-should be equipped with more "sophisticated theological literacy" (Hunter, 1989). This is of course not a call for a "religious psychology" in Beith-Hallahmi's (1991) sense but rather a statement that the psychology of religion and spirituality needs to be religiously and spiritually informed about the content of specific faith traditions in order to make meaningful empirical predictions (Hood, 1992;Gorsuch, 2008;Porpora, 2006;Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009).…”

Scientist vs. Believer?: On Navigating between the Scilla of Scientific Norms and the Charybdis of Personal Experience

“…As to professional knowledge and training (e.g., S. L. Jones, 1992), dealing with the biophysical reality of humans in all its aspects involves the neuroscience of the brain (e.g., Ashbrook & Albright, 1999). If biology is considered the (lower) antidiscipline to psychology, and psychology is seen as the antidiscipline to theology (Donahue, 1989;Hunter, 1989;Murphy, 1990;Spilka & Bridges, 1989), then, paraphrasing Wilson (1990), a broad-minded psychologist of religion should be centered in psychology, but be fairly familiar with the relevant parts of biology and theology (for a partial example, see Watts & Williams, 1988).…”

Psychology of Religion: What One Needs to Know

“…At this stage of the development of psychology of religion, theories are numerous (and often in competition). Principles and approaches are increasingly enriched by neighboring fields such as neurophysiology (Albright 1996;Ashbrook 1996), sociobiology, and religious studies, as well as theology (Hunter 1989) and philosophy.…”