|
|
Article: Psychology of Religion
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Psychology of Religion
From the perspective of science and religion, there exist three kinds of psychology of religion.
"Secular" empirical psychology
(e.g., Hood)
–
the most widely practiced
–
excludes the question of the transcendent and researches religious experiences and behavior in terms of meaningful psychological concepts such as cognition, emotion, motivation, attribution, social interaction, and development. The two other kinds are more mission-oriented.
"Theistic" religious psychology
(e.g., Koteskey; cf. Reich) includes the transcendent and aims to understand God's creation and make people more God-like by improving their mental functioning, their moral ...