Showing results for "Religious Experience" in Politics & Social Sciences

This landmark work by William James remains one of the most insightful books on psychology and spirituality. James considers the feelings, actions, and experiences of individuals, insofar as they understand themselves to be in a relationship with the divine. It examines the religion of everyday life and has nothing to do with doctrine or dogma.

First published in 1905, The Varieties of Religious Experience is a collection of lectures given at the University of Edinburgh in 1901 and 1902. William James was a psychologist and, as such, his interest in religion was not that of a theologian but of a scientist. In these 20 lectures, he discusses the nature and origin of religious belief. The average believer is one who has inherited his religion, but this will not do for James's inquiry.

The Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the classic work in the field. To quote Wikipedia, "James was most interested in understanding personal religious experience. The importance of James to the psychology of religion - and to psychology more generally - is difficult to overstate. He discussed many essential issues that remain of vital concern today. What makes James writing so special is that he could take a very complex subject and, without watering it down, make it understandable to 'the rest of us.'"

Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion "God" frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word "God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths.

"Philosopher and psychologist William James championed the value of individual experience with an eloquence and zeal that places him beside Emerson and Whitman as a classic exponent of American democratic culture. Regarded by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as “a milestone in religious thought,” The Varieties of Religious Experience takes on “the very inner citadel of human life” by focusing on intensely religious individuals from different cultures and eras, in order to explore from within how religion enriches human lives." -- Library of America

The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design.

Co-hosted by psychologist Dr. John Cottone, along with Dafna Soltes Stein — Jewish family educator and instructor of Judaics & religion — and Dr. David E. McClean — Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Rutgers and ordained interfaith minister — The Gesher Sessions explores the mysteries of existence, as well as the beliefs that people have about those mysteries.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Taken from the Hebrew word for "bridge," The Gesher Sessions aims to use tools from psychology to build bridges across various religious and cultural divides. If you're looking for an oasis where people have intelligent ...