Religion in the History of Psychology

By H. Newton Malony

Religious ideas and Religious persons have been at the center of American Psychology since the establishment of the American Psychological Association at the end of the 19th Century. This volume notes many of those significant events that led up to the establishment of the American Psychological Association's Division 36 – Psychology of Religion (now Religion and Spirituality).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503543324

H. Newton Malony

H. Newton Malony is a Senior Professor in the School of Psychology of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has authored and edited over thirty volumes on the integration of theology and psychology--most recently The Amazing John Wesley: An Unusual Look at an Uncommon Life and Toward a Christian Clinical Psychology: The Contributions of H. Newton Malony.

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Copyright © 2015 by H. Newton Malony.

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Rev. date: 02/17/2015

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CONTENTS

Preface

From Galileo To Whitehead: Historic Science/Religion Struggles Of Import For Christian (Religious) Counselors

Four Historical Influences That Led To Apa’s Division 36 (Religion And Spiritiuality

G. Stanley Hall’s Theory Of Conversion

The Clark School Of Religious Psychology 1889–1929 (Contributions Of G. Stanley Hall And His Students, James H. Leuba And Edwin S. Starbuck)

The Future Of Illusion–The Illusion Of The Future An Historic Dialogue On The Value Of Religion Between Oskar Pfister And Sigmund Freud

The Contribution Of Gordon W. Allport (1897-1967) To The Psychology Of Religion

The V62.89 Code Of The Dsm-Iv-R: Boon And Bane For Christian (Religious, Spiritual) Psychologists

Postscript: John Wesley, John Calvin, And Martin Luther: An Unholy Triumvirate Of Import For Psychology

Religion has had a checkered history in American clinical and academic psychology. Like most fields of study, psychology came into its own in the late 19th century flourishing of the Renaissance. Psychology’s roots are in theology and philosophy. William James offered the first doctorate in psychology at Harvard during this period and authored the note-worthy Varieties of Religious Experience, which had the effect of declaring religion to be a legitimate topic for the field. The study of religion flourished until the late 1920s at which time it went into a demise due to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Only by the 1950s did religion cease to become a taboo topic for psychologists. Since that time, Religion (and Spirituality) have taken their place within American psychology as can be seen in publications and practice. This volume grounds this development in a series of historical surveys that demonstrate this development plus offer connections to psychological considerations in theology. It should be thought of as a selection of comments rather than a complete survey.

H. Newton Malony is a Senior Professor in the Graduate School of Psychology of Fuller Theological Seminary where he has taught since 1969. Although basically retired, he is well-known as a seminal psychologist of religion who has played a significant role in many of the developments within the field. He has been president of Division 36, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality and was one of the founding editors of the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Psychology. He is also a retired United Methodist minister. He has authored/edited over thirty volumes.

PREFACE

American Psychology has been significantly influenced by religion in its historical development. David Wulff has chronicled this development well in his comprehensive survey Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Views (1999). I do not intend to replicate his account in this volume although I am dependent on his acumen in many ways – both professional and personal. He is a good friend.

My goal is to share thematically a set of articles I have written/presented. They stem from a long-standing interest in both psychology and religion. Professionally, I am both an ordained clergy person and a clinical psychologist who has spent the major part of his career focusing on the psychology of religion as a professor in a graduate school of Psychology. In addition to having chaired over one hundred doctoral dissertations (most of which dealt with facets of the psychology of religion), I had the privilege of co-authoring with Hendrika Vande Kemp Psychology and Theology in Western Thought 1672 – 1965 (1984). The chapters in this volume are not meant to be as comprehensive of this history. They only reflect interests at a given time and place. They are grouped, however, in a more-or-less chronological format. The last chapter is listed as a Postscript in the sense that it considers matters closely related to psychological themes but are basically theological.

The first chapter sets the stage for how religion has been considered within psychology by considering several figures that have dealt with religion in the history of science starting with Galileo. Psychology became known as an independent field of study only a century ago. Its roots were in philosophy, biology, and theology. It is important to ground the development of psychology within the science/religion debate that started in the Renaissance.

This is followed by a survey of events within modern psychology that led up to the establishment of the Division 36 (Religion and Spirituality) in the American Psychological Association’s organizational structure. This survey was initially presented to a group of Chinese students who had come to learn more about the psychology of religion in the USA. This survey covers events of the last century and a half and focuses on Wilhelm Wundt, William James, G. Stanley Hall, and Gordon Allport.

This survey is followed by a chapter that describes more fully the contribution of G. Stanley Hall to this history. Hall originally intended to become a minister but was discouraged by his seminary professors who felt he did not have the talent. He turned to the study of psychology which was located in philosophy. He received the first doctorate ever awarded in psychology at Harvard under William James. James wrote the first, and still in print, English book on the psychology of religion, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). The book featured the work of Hall and other students. Hall retained his interest in religion and wrote a volume that featured a combination of psychological and theological themes, Jesus the Christ in the Light of Psychology (1917). This chapter relates his theory or religious conversion discussed in his book.

Hall became president of Clark University and initiated his own graduate program in Psychology. It was called the Clark School and produced a number of the early psychologists of religion who will be noted in the next chapter. James Leuba and Edwin Starbuck both followed Hall’s interest on conversion. Leuba proposed a quasi-theological model and Starbuck designed a questionnaire for the study of the time and place of conversion in American culture. Many of the Clark School’s studies were published in the first journal in the field The American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education established by Hall in 1904.

A central figure in these years in which religion was not considered a legitimate field of study for psychologists was Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. He considered religion to be an indication of neurosis. Belief in God that led to religious behavior was thought to be a sign of arrested development. Freud called himself a Godless Jew and wrote a book titled The Future of an Illusion (1927) that declared religion to be a delusion which would disappear over time. Amazingly, during the decades before the publishing of this volume, Freud had become a personal friend of a Swiss pastor who, though trained as a psychoanalyst, believed that the Christian faith based on love was the only reality that had a future. Freud and Pfister visited in each other’s home and dialogued about religion through letters. They wrote many letters to one another. A chapter summarizes this astounding friendship and ends with a touching tribute to Freud’s widow after his death.

The antipathy toward psychology’s study of religion began to change with the publication of Gordon Allport’s The Individual and His Religion (1950). Allport was a well known professor of psychology at Harvard and a leading figure in the study of personality theory and social behavior. He brought the prestige that the psychological study of religion needed to become a viable field of study for psychologists. This chapter reviews his contribution that is based on basic psychological methodology and personal reflections.

Allport’s example was emulated by the establishing of the Catholic Psychological Association that became a more inclusive group called PIRI (Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues). PIRI’s programs began to meet in conjunction with annual meeting of the APA (American Psychological Association). A number of us became active in PIRI. This group later became the nucleus of those who received approval to become one the official Divisions of the APA (Division 36, Psychology of Religion). Division 36 has now expanded into The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

Psychiatry, too, has become more positive in its outlook on religion. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, on which psychiatrists (and psychologists) depend to analyze the nature of emotional disturbance in people, included in its 4th Revision (as well as all revisions thereafter) a code which helps to distinguish religion that is a cultural strength from religion that is abusive or unhealthy. The final chapter considers the implications of this change.

The volume concludes with a postscript essay that details some of the reflections of the 18th century divine John Wesley. He was the founder of Methodism – that branch of Christianity in which I have been involved. Wesley was a product of the Enlightenment. His reflections focused on the human experience of faith in God – i.e. religious experience. Thus, his writing is psychological in emphasis. This essay compares Wesley’s thinking to that of Calvin and Luther who were late Medieval reformers.

My hope is that the discussions in this volume will bring some clarity to the developmental process that lies behind current psychological thinking about religion. My personal involvement in a number of the events that have occurred in this process have led me to hope others will find these accounts as enlightening and informative as they have been for me.

Galileo

FROM GALILEO TO WHITEHEAD:

HISTORIC SCIENCE/RELIGION STRUGGLES

OF IMPORT

FOR CHRISTIAN (RELIGIOUS) COUNSELORS

Eric Berne, the founder of Transactional Analysis, said that when counselors sit down to counsel, there is nothing but empty space between them and the persons they are trying to help; no desk, no textbook, no X-Ray machine, no screen, no stethoscope, no automatic counseling technique, no special gown, no diplomas of training, no respirator, no psychological tests, no stained glass window, no exorcistic cross, not even a Bible–just empty space.

I think Berne was wrong. I think there is something in the space between counselor and counselee. It is not empty space; it is filled space. The term for what fills this space is Apperception. Apperception fills the space; apperception is the filter through which counselors counsel; apperception is grid through which help is given; apperception is the framework around which problems are defined and counsel is offered; apperception is the telescope through which the clients’ problems are perceived and analyzed.

Apperception

It is to Wilhelm