International Series in the Psychology of Religion – serie

Mysticism, which can bedefined as the human being's direct experience God, the ground of being, or in similar ways, is without doubt one of the most fascinating phenomena in the history of humankind. Although not restricted to religion, it can be regarded as an integral element of religion. There are mystical dimensions within all religions of the world. Taoism, Zen, as well as a number of Hindu traditions, for example, are fundamentally mystical in the sense that they all strive for transcendence above this world of multiplicity. The scholarly study of religious mysticism is a vast and complex area of research, embracing studies from numerous disciplines. This volume contains a variety of psychological perspectives. The majority of these focus on mystical phenomena within Christianity, but some contributors also deal with mysticism in non-Christian traditions. As in most studies, phenomena, persons, or occurrences in the past are emphasized. Although very different, and coming from a range of academic backgrounds (religious studies, comparative religion, psychoanalysis, cultural psychology, theoretical psychology, etc.), the contributors are nevertheless all united in their attempts to understand more about particular forms of mysticism, from a perspective that puts the involvement of the human being in the center of mysticism with respect to both its theory and method. The editors: Jacob A. Belzen is professor of psychology of religion at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Antoon Geels is professor of psychology of religion at the University of Lund (Sweden).

Joseph Pieper and Marinus van Uden have proposed a book consisting of previously published papers on the topics of religion, coping, and mental health care. It covers quite a bit of territory: the complex relationships between religion and mental health, surveys that present the views of therapists and patients about the interface between religion and mental health, a case study of a religious patient struggling with psychological problems, empirical studies of religious coping among various groups, and a method for teaching the clinical psychology of religion.Although the papers are diverse, they are unified by several themes. First, the papers convey a balanced approach to religion and psychology. They speak to the potentially positive and negative contributions religion can make to health and well-being. Second, several of the papers focus on the role of religious coping among patients in the Netherlands. This focus is noteworthy since the large majority of this theory and research has been limited to the USA. Third, they underscore the value of a cross-cultural approach to the field. Their surveys point to the importance of religious/worldview perspectives to many patients (and therapists) in the Netherlands, even though the culture is more secularised than the USA. However, their papers also suggest that the manifestation of these religious/worldview perspectives may take different shape in the Netherlands. Fourth, the papers have clinical relevance. The case history of the obsessive-compulsive patient by Van Uden (ch. 4) contains an excellent example of the way in which religious resources can be accessed to counter dysfunctional behaviours.This volume shows initial effort in a newly emerging area of study. It is encouraging to see a significant body of research and practice on the psychology of religion and coping coming out of the Netherlands. It could stimulate further advances in a more cross-culturally sensitive, clinical psychology of religion.– Kenneth Pargament, Professor of Psychology, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA

This volume positions itself on the cutting edge of two fields in psychology that enjoy rapidly increasing attention: both the study of human lives and some core domains of such lives as religion and spirituality are high on the agenda of current research and teaching. Biographies and autobiographies are being approached in new ways and have become central to the study of human lives as an object of research and a preferred method for obtaining unique data about subjective human experiences. Ever since the beginning of the psychology of religion, autobiographies have also been pointed out as an important source of information about psychic processes involved in religiosity. In this volume, a number of leading theoreticians and researchers from Europe and the USA try to bring them back to this field by drawing on new insights and latest developments in psychological theory.