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WORK TITLE: Can Science Explain Religion?
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Jones, James William
BIRTHDATE: 1/23/1943
WEBSITE:
CITY:
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http://religion.rutgers.edu/faculty-all/emeriti/888-james-w-jones-professor-4
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born January 23, 1943.
EDUCATION:Erlham College (Richmond, IN), B.A.; Episcopal Theological School (Cambridge, MA), M.Div.; Brown University, Ph.D.; Rutgers University, Psy.D.; University of Pennsylvania Medical School, certificate in family therapy.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, educator, and psychologist. Instructor, Brown University, 1968-69; instructor, Macalester College, 1970-71; Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, assistant professor, 1971-75, associate professor, 1975-90, professor, 1990-2006, distinguished professor, 2006—; served as lecturer or adjunct professor at Union Theological Seminary, Drew University, and Inlandet Hospital, Norway. University of Cambridge, England, fellow at Center for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies, visiting fellow at St. Edmund’s College. Senior research fellow, John Jay College, 2008—. Ordained Priest in the Episcopal Church USA; maintains a private psychology practice; member of editorial boards of various scholarly publications.
MEMBER:American Psychological Association (fellow); American Academy of Religion (program cochair, 1992-99), American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, International Association for the Psychology of Religion (vice president, 2006-12), International Society for Science and Religion.
AWARDS:William J. Bier Award, American Psychological Association, 1993. Honorary doctorate, Uppsala University.
WRITINGS
Contributor of chapters to books; author of a collection of essays published in Dutch, Religie en het Relationele Zelf (title means Religion and the Relational Self), KSGV Press (Tillburg, Netherlands), 2010.
Contributor of articles to journals, including Gender and Psychoanalysis, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Journal of Religion and Health, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Pastoral Psychology, Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, Psychoanalytic Review, Public Service Review, and Zygon.
SIDELIGHTS
James W. Jones is a writer and educator whose work focuses on psychology and religion. He is a distinguished professor at Rutgers University. Jones has also served as a fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Center for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies and a visiting fellow at the university’s St. Edmund’s College. He is an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. In addition to teaching, Jones maintains a private psychology practice and has served on the editorial boards of various scholarly publications. He has written and edited many books.
In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life
In 1995 Jones released In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life: The Courage to Search for Something More. In this volume, he focuses on what gives meaning to one’s life. Jones identifies intimacy as one of the key elements people search for in life. He suggests that finding meaning in life is both psychological and spiritual, though he notes that some involved in these two fields would disagree. Jones argues that one can overcome malaise and discontent through a transformation that is both spiritual and psychological. Humans naturally desire to relate to a higher power as well as to other humans, he states.
Christianity Today critic Randall Lehmann remarked: “Those who accept that a journey of faith includes doubt and struggle and psychological complexity will likely feel understood and met by this book. Jones invokes no platitudes. He has the courage to call a spade a spade, and a squirrel a squirrel. One way to understand this book is 213 pages of ‘it sure looks like a squirrel to me.’ By presuming no necessary dichotomy between divine transcendence and ordinary life, Jones’s volume makes an eloquent case for how we can encounter God in the midst of everyday moments, even those involving bushy tails.” “The book is readable, the ideas accessible and easily palatable,” asserted a contributor to Publishers Weekly.
Religion and Psychology in Transition
In Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology, Jones begins by discussing Freud’s theories on how religion developed among humans. Freud believed that the id and the superego are the places in the mind where people experience religion. He also thought that science could be a suitable replacement for religion. Jones goes on to compare Freud’s ideas relating to the nature of humans to a more relational view of human nature. This relational view has a more unified approach to psychic functions. Jones discusses psychoanalysis in relational terms, citing works from various thinkers, including Winnicott, Macmurray, and Fainbairn. He also presents a relational theory of theology, suggesting that God does not have a meaning without his relation to man. In the section on theology, Jones cites Winnicott again, as well as Rizzuto.
Theological Studies reviewer W.W. Meissner suggested: “Students of religion will … find much food for thought in these pages.” Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, a critic on the Journal of Religion Web site, remarked: “Jones does not quite deliver on the promise of the title to investigate ‘psychology’ beyond psychoanalysis, to engage feminism extensively, or to give theology comparable weight. But he succeeds well in sharpening psychoanalytic arguments for the importance of religion and the reality of God.”
The Mirror of God
Jones’s 2003 book, The Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice: Lessons from Buddhism and Psychotherapy, examines the psychological benefits of practicing one’s faith. He explains that he has studied both Buddhism and Christianity and that both have affected his life in positive ways. He identifies similarities between the two religions. Jones suggests that disciplines associated with religious practice, such as praying and meditation, can help a person with other aspects of his or her life. Overall health can improve when a person is practicing a religion.
Reviewing the volume in Booklist, Donna Chavez suggested: “Jones uniquely blends his experience … to compellingly affirm the interdependence of mind, body, and spirit.” A Publishers Weekly writer commented: “Jones’s dogged insistence that faith is nothing without patient, persistent practice is ultimately modest and a welcome report.”
The Fundamentalist Mindset and Can Science Explain Religion?
In The Fundamentalist Mindset: Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History, which Jones edited with Charles B. Strozier and David M. Terman, contributors offer essays on the causes and effects of fundamentalism. In an examination of violence related to fundamentalism, a contributor suggests that paranoia is an important factor. Separating adherents of fundamentalist sects from everyone else in the world is another element that contributes to acts of violence. Among the fundamentalist groups discussed in the book are jihadists, members of the Hindutva movement in India, and Christian fundamentalists in the United States. M.A. Toole, a reviewer in Choice, commented: “This book is a refreshing addition to the plenitude of lesser works on fundamentalism, violence, and terrorism.” Writing on the Metapsychology Web site, Mark Welch suggested: “It is not always possible to detect an impartial tone in some of the chapters. Nor are there many suggestions about ways to combat what the authors see as a worrying trend. Nevertheless, the book will be of interest to scholars of many different fields, from religious studies to sociology to history to politics. But I venture that it may be of greater interest to the curious general reader who may be trying to understand not only how these ideas arise, but what they mean for us in our everyday lives.”
Can Science Explain Religion? The Cognitive Science Debate, released in 2016, finds Jones commenting on the effect that scientific knowledge is having on religious beliefs. He notes that a rise in scientific understanding is not causing the demise of religion, as some philosophers have thought. Jones profiles both camps in the debate on cognitive science. Those on the side of science believe that a deeper understanding of cognition will ultimately end religion. Those on the other side of the debate criticize their antagonists for being reductionist. Jones analyzes the atheists’ argument that religion can be explained by cognitive science and finds the argument to be lacking. “The book will have broad appeal to scholars of science and religion,” asserted J.A. Hewlett in Choice.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2003, Donna Chavez, review of The Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice: Lessons from Buddhism and Psychotherapy, p. 361.
Choice, November, 2010, M.A. Toole, review of The Fundamentalist Mindset: Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History, p. 516; June, 2016, J.A. Hewlett, review of Can Science Explain Religion? The Cognitive Science Debate, p. 1488.
Christianity Today, August 14, 1995, Randall Lehmann, review of In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life: The Courage to Search for Something More, p. 44.
Publishers Weekly, January 9, 1995, review of In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life, p. 39; September 29, 2003, review of The Mirror of God, p. 60.
Theological Studies, September, 1997, W.W. Meissner, review of Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology, p. 587.
ONLINE
Journal of Religion, http://www.academicroom.com/ (October 15, 2012), Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, review of Religion and Psychology in Transition.
Metapsychology, http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/ (February 15, 2011), Mark Welch, review of The Fundamentalist Mindset.
Rutgers University, Department of Religion Web site, http://religion.rutgers.edu/ (May 13, 2017), author faculty profile and curriculum vitae.
Spirituality & Practice, http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (May 13, 2017), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of The Mirror of God.
Jones, James W.
Image James W. Jones
Distinguished Professor
Religion and Science
Email: James W. Jones
About
Dr. James W. Jones holds earned doctorates in both Philosophy of Religion and in Psychology and an Honorary Doctorate (from the Uppsala University in Sweden). He is Distinguished Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University in the United States, where he has taught a variety of courses in religion and science for over forty years. He has also taught in Graduate Faculties of Criminal Justice, Medical Humanities, and Theology. He is the author of fifteen books and numerous professional papers and is the editor several of several volumes of collected papers, dealing with Religion, Psychology and Science. He has been a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies at Cambridge University in the UK and was elected a Visiting Fellow of St. Edmund’s College in Cambridge in 2013. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and has served as program co-chair for the American Academy of Religion and as vice-President of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion. He is also a member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He serves on the editorial boards of several publications. He is an ordained Priest in the Episcopal Church USA and has maintained a private practice of clinical psychology, specializing in psychophysiology and behavioral medicine.
Education Areas of Specialization
Th.D (causa honoris), Uppsala University, Uppsala Sweden
Psy.D, Rutgers University
Certificate in Family Therapy, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, PA
Ph.D. Brown University
M.Div. Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, MA
B.A. Erlham College, Richmond, IN
Religion and Science
Religion and Psychology
Books
Can Science
Explain Religion?
(Oxford Univ.
Press, 2016)
The Blood that Cries
out From the Earth: The
Psychological Roots of
Religious Terrorism
(Oxford Univ. Press, 2008)
Waking From Newton's
Sleep: Dialogues on
Spirituality in an Age
of Science (Wipf and
Stock, 2006)
The Mirror of God:
Christian Faith as
Spiritual Practice
(Palgrave, 2003)
Terror and Transformation:
The Ambiguity of Religion
in Psychoanalytic
Perspective (Routledge
Press, 2002)
Religion and
Psychology in Transition:
Psychoanalysis,
Feminism and Theology
(Yale Univ. Press, 1996)
In the Middle of this
Road we Call our
Life: The Courage to
Search for Something
More (Harper Collins,
1995)
Contemporary
Psychoanalysis
and Religion:
Transference and
Transcendence
(Yale Univ. Press,
1991)
The Redemption of
Matter: Toward The
Rapprochement of
Science and Religion
(Univ. Press America
1984)
The Texture of KnowledgeAn Essay on Religion and
Science (Univ. Press
America, 1981)
Selected Articles and Book Chapters
Selected Awards and Distinctions
Visiting Fellow, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge University, UK
Visiting Fellow, Center for Advanced Religious and Theological, Cambridge University, UK, 2012-2014
Fellow, American Psychological Association
William J. Bier award, from the American Psychological Association for outstanding contributions to the Psychology of Religion, 1993
Vice-President of the Internationale Gessellshaft fur Religionspsychologie (International Association for Psychology of Religion), 2006-2012
Editorial Board of the Journal of Religion and Health
Editorial Board of the International Archive for the Psychology of Religion
Editorial Board of the International Series in Psychology of Religion
Co-chair of the Division of Religion and the Social Sciences, American Academy of Religion, 1992-1999
Professional Memberships and Affiliations
Fellow, American Psychological Association
Member, American Academy of Religion
Member, International Society for Science and Religion
Member, International Society for Psychology of Religion
Clinical Member, American Association For Marriage and Family Therapy
Member, American Society for Clinical Hypnosis
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 3January,20043Religie en het Relationele Zelf[Religion and the Relational Self], Tillburg. Netherlands: KSGV Press, 2010. [A collection of my essays published in Dutch].The Blood that Cries out from the Earth: The Psychological Roots of Religious Terrorism, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.Waking From Newton’s Sleep: Dialogues On Spirituality in an Age of Science. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers. 2006The Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice. New York: Palgrave, 2003Terror and Transformation: The Ambiguity of Religion in Psychoanalytic Perspective, London & New York: Routledge Press, 2002Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Theology, Yale University Press, 1996.In The Middle of this Road We Call Our Life: The Courage to Search for Something More,San Francisco: Harper Collins, hardcover 1995, paper 1996. Translated into Chinese, Portuguese European edition published by Thorsons.Transforming Psychoanalysis: Feminism and Religion, ed. by James W. Jones & Naomi R. Goldenberg, including two papers "Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Religion" and "Response: Religion, Reductionism, and Psychoanalysis" by J. W. Jones published by the journal Pastoral Psychology Vol. 40, No. 6, 1992.Contemporary Psychoanalysisand Religion: Transference and Transcendence,New Haven: Yale University Press, hardcover, 1991; paper 1993. Translated into Japanese and Korean.The Redemption of Matter: Towards The Rapprochement of Science and Religion, Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1984.The Texture of Knowledge: An Essay on Religion and Science. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America 1981.The Spirit and the World.New York: Hawthorn Press, 1975.Filled With New Wine.New York: Harper & Row, 1974; paperback, 1976.The Shattered Synthesis: New England Puritanism Before the Great Awakening. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973.B.Articlesand Chapters
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 10January,200410Invited Keynote Address, “A Pragmatic Ecstasy:Practicing Religion and Science,”Student Symposium, Zygon Center for Religion and Science, May 1, 2009, Chicago, IL.Invited to teach a graduate seminar on the psychology of religious violence at Union Theological Seminary & Columbia University, Fall2008Invited to co-teach a Seminar on Terrorism, John Jay College on Criminal Justice, NYC, Spring, 2009 Served as a Dissertation examiner for a dissertation at the University of Uppsala on the problem of burnout by L. Belfrage, March, 2009.Served as an outside evaluator for a Habilitationsschrift at the University of Vienna on Freud and Religion by Dr. H. Westerink, April, 2009. Invited Lecture, “Converting to Terrorism,” Uppsala University, Uppsala Sweden, March 19, 2009Invited Address, “Sacred Terror,” Community Forum, Stockholm, Sweden, March, 16, 2009Invited Address, “Understanding Contemporary Terrorism,” International Counter-Terrorism Expo, London, England, February 10, 2009 Invited Panelist, conference on conflict resolution, Columbia University, NYC, Dec. Invited Address, “Sacred Terror,” Seminar on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City, Nov. 21, 2008Invited Lecture, “Psychology of Religious Violence,” Georgian Court College, Lakewood, NJ, Nov.6, 2008Paper, “The Religious and Psychological Roots of Religious Terrorism,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago IL, Nov. 2, 2008Convener and Presider , session on “Spirituality: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Measurement,” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago IL, Nov. 2, 2008Invited to be on a panel on religious material in psychotherapy, Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston MA, August,2008Invited Address: “Converting to Terrorism: What the Psychology of Religion Tells us about Religiously Motivated Terrorism.” Annual Meeting of the American
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 11January,200411Psychological Association, Boston MA, August, 2008Invited Lecture, “The Psychology of Religious Terrorism,” Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Atlanta, GA, June 2008.Invited address, “Religion and Terrorism,” the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, April 30, 2008.Invited address, “Violence on the Mind—Religion, Violence and Contemporary American Christianity.” American Psychological Association Division of Psychology of Religion, Loyola University, Maryland, 2/29/08Invited Paper “Living in the midst of Horrors: contemporary psychoanalytic reflections on Martin Luther and his Theology” presented at an interdisciplinary, international conference on Luther at Northwestern University, Evanston IL., 2/23/08Respondent to a paper on “Attachment Theory and Fundamentalism” at John Jay College, New York City, 2/8/08Lecture on “The Psychological Roots of Religious Terrorism,” The Trinity Forum, New York City,, Jan., 2008 Conducteda week long seminar on Christianity and Buddhism at the General Theological Seminary, New York City, Jan. 2008Paper “Terror in the Name of God: A Psychoanalytic Perspective” at the winter meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Tempe AZ, Dec. 8, 2007Invited to co-lead the Leadership Roundtable, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, on the subjectof “Religion and violence: is faith dangerous?” Washington DC, November 28, 2007. Paper presented “The Limits Of Dialogue—The Carl Rogers-Paul Tillich Debates”at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Nov. 2007, San Diego, CAPaper presented, "The Psychology of Religious Conversion with Special Reference to Religious Terrorists and other Fundamentalists," Nov. 9, 2007, at John Jay College, New York CityLecture, “The Psychology of Religious Terrorism,” at the Institutes for Religion and Health, Oct. 24, 2007 New York CityPresented paper on “Religion and Violence In American Christianity: A Psychological Study” at the International Conference on Spirituality and Psychology, Sept. 2007, Prague, Czech Republic
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 12January,200412Co-led a conference on Positive Psychology and Religion at a conference center in upstate NY, Oct. 2007Gave talks on religious terrorism to community groups in Short Hills, NJ Appointed a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Terrorism at John Jay College in NYCOct. 2006, two invited addresses—on “Religion and Health” and ‘Religion and Psychotherapy”—at the opening of the Viken Center Psychiatric Hospital, Bardufoos, Norway.Co-led a conference on Buddhism and Christianity at a conference center in upstate NY, Oct. 2006Asked to conduct a week long seminar on psychology and theology at the General Theological Seminary, NY, Jan. 2007Appeared on a panel and gave a presentation on humiliation and violence at the Center On Terrorism and Violence at John JayCollege, NY, May 2007.Nov. 2006, public lecture, “Religion and Violence in Contemporary American Christianity,” Bryn Mawr, PA.April, 21, 2006, invited to present a paper “The Divine Terrorist: Religion and Violence in American Apocalyptic Christianity” on a panel on the psychology of Fundamentalism at the Spring Meeting of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association in Philadelphia.April 14, 2006, presented a paper on “The Psychology of Religious Violence” to the Faculty Seminar on Religion and Violence at John Jay College, New York.Feb. 2005, lecture on “The Divine Terrorist: Religion and Violence in American Apocalyptic Christianity” at a conference on the Psychology of Fundamentalism at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, Chicago Ill.Colloquium on clinical issues in the psychology of religion at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, December 2005.“The psychological roots of religious terrorism” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2005, Philadelphia, PA.“The psychological roots of religious terrorism.” a series of lectures at the University of California Medical School and to community mental health workers, October, 2005, Fresno, CA
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 13January,200413Team taught a graduate course on research methods in the psychology of religion with colleagues from Sweden and Belgium at the Karolinska Medical Institute Stockholm, Sweden, August, 2005.Invited to be part of an international, online seminar on psychology and fundamentalism, May, 2004 –August, 2005, sponsored by PsyBC, an online provider of continuing education courses.Appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and HealthA keynote address to the Spring Meeting of the Division of Psychology of Religion of the American Psychological Association, entitled “The Psychological Roots of Religious Terrorism,” April 2005.Invited to be a regular columnist writing in the area of psychology and religion for an online psychological information service, 2005.Fellow of the Institute for Religion and Culture at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan researching the cult Aum Shinrikyo and also the dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity in Japan, April 2005. Paper, “Spiritual Intelligence: Controversies and Implications,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2004. Invited lecture, May 13, 2004. “The paradox of religion, “ Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nanzan University, Nagoya JapanInvited lecture and graduate seminar, May 14, 2004, “Religion and Idealization, “ University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo JapanInvited lecture and graduate seminar, May 19, 2004, “The psychology of spiritual selfhood,” Seoul Jangsin University, Seoul, KoreaInvited lecture and graduate seminar, May 20, 2004. “Self psychology and psychotherapy,” Korean Institute for Psychotherapy, Seoul, KoreaConference keynote address, May 21, 2004. “The role of narcissism in religion,” Korean Association for Pastoral Counseling national conference, Seoul, Korea.Response to “Object Relations and Ritualization in a drug treatment approach in therapy” by Valerie Demarinis, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA, November2003Two lectures, “Spirituality and Psychotherapy,” and “The Transforming Moment: Spiritual and Psychological Perspectives,” Center for the Study of Health, Religion, and Spirituality, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, October, 2003
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 14January,200414Lecture, “Terror in the Name of God,” Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society, Tampa Florida, September 20, 2003Paper on “Religion and Health: Possible Mechanisms” the International Conference on Psychology and Religion in Glasgow Scotland, August, 2003. Serveon Editorial Board of the “Archiv fur Religionspsychologie,” yearbook for the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, August, 2003-Present.Paper, “Religion and Health: Possible Mechanisms,” International Conference on Psychology and Religion, Glasgow Scotland, August, 2003. Two invited lectures on “Terror in the Name of God,” delivered at the University of Lund, Sweden, June, 2003.Delivered the second annual Limpitlaw Lecture on Religion and Science, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, March, 2003.Lecture, “Terror and Transformation: The Paradox of Religion” given on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Uppsala, Uppsala Sweden, January 2003.Invited Lecture, “The Paradox of Religion,” Princeton Theological Seminary, December, 2002.Organized panel on “Critical Psychology and its Critics” and presented a paper entitled “Critical Psychology: A “Psycho” Analysis” at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Toronto Canada, November. 2002.Seminar on Research Methodologies, Karolinska Medical Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, March, 2002.Lecture, “Religion and Health: Review of the Research,” and Graduate Seminar on Religion and Psychology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala Sweden, October 2001. Paper, “Hans Loewald: The Psychoanalyst as Mystic,” annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Nashville, November, 2000.Three lectures on “Bringing Psychotherapy and Spirituality Together,” sponsored by the Center for Psychotherapy, Education and Spiritual Growth and Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, October, 2000.Paper, “Practice Meets Practice: Ways Religion Impacts on Psychotherapy”, annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, August 2000.
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 15January,200415Paper, “Anxiety, Religion, and the Dilemma of Modern Culture,” and participant on a panel on international approaches to teaching psychology and religion at the European Congress of Psychology and Religion, Sigtuna Sweden, July, 2000.Participant in a panel on psychology and pastoral theology at the meeting of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, Williamsburg, VA, April, 2000.Participant in a working group on teaching psychology of religion and pastoral theology, Cape Cod, MA, August, 1999, sponsored by the Wabash FoundationLecture, “Psychoneuroimmunology, the Spiritual Quest, and the End of the Conflict Between Science and Religion,” Conference of the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, PalmSprings, CA, Dec. 1999.Paper, "Religion and Psychology: The Future of the Discipline," November, 1998, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Orlando, Florida.Invited paper, "Narcissism, Idealization, and The Elementary Forms of Religion," University of Leiden, Leiden, the Netherlands, October, 1998Moderator and discussant at a two day conference on "Partnerships in Healing," at Morristown Memorial hospital, October. 2-3, 1998.Two papers, "What is the Object in Object-Relational Research?," and “The Ethics of Psychoanalysis," at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August, 1998.Two invited lectures, "The Relational Turn: Feminist and Contemporary Psychoanalytic Resources for Theological Reconstruction" and "The Return of the Repressed: The Place of the Psychoanalysis of Religion in the current Rethinking of Psychoanalysis" at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, June, 1998.Presentation, "Consciousness and Psychoimmunology: Philosophical and Theological Implications of Clinical Practice," February, 1998 at a conference on neuroscience and religion sponsored by the Templeton Foundation at Union Theological Seminary in New York.Participated in a symposium on my book, Religion and Psychology in Transition at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in November 1997. The papers from this symposium, including two of mine, were published in the journal Pastoral Psychology.Lecture, "Religion and Mental Health," November 1997, Dept. of Psychiatry, Mountainside Hospital, Montclair, NJInvited participant in the European Congress for the psychology of religion, August, 1997, Barcelona, Spain. Note: several of the presentations cited or were based on my work.
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 16January,200416Day long invited lecture series (4 lectures in all) on spirituality and psychotherapy, Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville, NC, April, 1997.Invited lecture, "Embodying Relationships: An Object Relational Perspective on the Body," plus panel presentation and seminar participation at the University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, March, 1997.Paper, "The Place of the Psychoanalysis of Religion in the Rethinking of Psychoanalysis," winter meeting of the Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association, Denver, Co., February, 1997Graduate seminar on "Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Theology," Spring, 1995, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY.Clinical seminar on the psychology of religion, Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology, Jan., 1995, LaMirada, CA.Participant (the only one from the USA) in an invitational, international seminar on the psychology of religion, June 1995, held at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.Invited series of lectures on "Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Theology," Oct, 1994, to the faculty of the Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology, La Mirada, Ca.Invited lecture, "Living On The Boundary of Psychology and Religion," given at the receipt of the 1993 William J. Bier Award at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto.Lecture, "Transference, Transformation and Transcendence," New York University, New York, NY, Nov. 6, 1993.Paper, "The Dilemmas of Reductionism" presented to the mid-winter meeting of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association, New York, April, 1993.Lecture, "Conscious Medicine," at a national conference on religion and medicine, held in New York City, March 26-27, 1993.Invited lecture, "Towards a Relational Psychoanalysis of Religion," at the winter meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Mexico, Dec. 6, 1992.1991-1993, invited to serve on the steering committee for a national conference on religion and medicine, held in New York City,March 26-27, 1993.Invited lecture, "Religion and Mental Health: Empirical and Clinical Perspectives," Grand Rounds, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, October 23, 1992.
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 17January,200417Invited lecture, "Religion and Mental Health: Empirical and Clinical Perspectives," United States Veterans Administration Hospital, Montrose, New York, September 25, 1992.Lecture, "The Boundary Between Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion," given to the program in the Humanities and Human Values, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, April 10, 1992.Lecture, "Towards a Relational Psychoanalysis of Religion," Foundation for Religion and Mental Health, New York, February 27, 1992.Organized a symposium entitled, "Transforming Psychoanalysis: Feminism and Religion," involving four other presenters at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Kansas City, November, 1992.Presented a paper and gave a response. Invited lecture, "Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion," at the Institute for Religion and Health, New York, October, 1991.Invited presentation, "On the Boundary of Psychology and Religion" at the National Conference on Buddhism and Psychotherapy, Woodstock, N.Y., September, 1991.Paper, "An Empirical-Psychoanalytic Investigation of Transferential Themes in Religious Experience: A Preliminary Report" presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August, 1991.Paper, "Winnicottian Perspectives onKnowledge in Psychoanalysis and Religion" presented to the mid-winter meeting of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, April, 1991.A talk on "Religion and Mental Health: Review of the Research" to the Graduate Faculty-Student Colloquium of the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, March, 1991.Chair of a session on "Freud and Religion" at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, New Orleans, November, 1990.Invitedlecture, "The Psychological Origins of Religion" at Princeton University, November 30, 1989.Invited lecture, "Religion and Mental Health: Empirical and Clinical Considerations," Cafh Foundation, New York City, November 4, 1989.Invited presentation, "The Academy and the Clinic," at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Anaheim, CA, November, 1989.Invited presentation, "Transformation in Religion and Psychotherapy" to a colloquium sponsored by Division 36 of the American Psychological Association, at the Annual meeting of the APA, New Orleans, 1989.
JAMES W.JONESPAGE 18January,200418Invited lecture to a colloquium on Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Study of Religion, April 21,22, 1989. Sponsored by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.Paper onContemporary Psychoanalysis and the Study of Religion, Religion Department Colloquium, February, 1989. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.Paper, "Transference and Transcendence: Models of Relationship and Understanding Religion", presented to the Religion and Social Sciences Section of the American Academy of Religion's Annual Meeting, Chicago, 1988.Paper, "Models of Transference and the Nature of Religion: Notes on Clinical Research" to a symposium on object relations theory and the study ofreligion, Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, 1988.Served on the Steering Committee of a professional society concerned with religion and psychology, affiliated with the American Academy of Religion, 1988 –1992.Presentation, "Object-relations Theory and the Study of Religion," Symposium with that title at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, 1987.Paper, "The Context of Practice or the Practice of Contexts: Theory and Practice in Religionand Psychotherapy: Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta November, 1986.Invited to participate in a symposium on Object-relations Psychology and the Study of Religion, Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August, 1986.Two invited lectures on new paradigms in science and their impact on modern culture at a conference sponsored by the North Carolina Humanities Committee, Charlotte, NC, July 13-15, 1984.Conducted two-day workshop on Religion and Psychotherapy, St. Michael's Chapel, Rutgers University, May 19-20, 1981.Two invited lectures, "Power and Transformation in Religious Experience," given at the Trinity Institute National Conferences in New York and San Francisco Feb. 2-7, 1981.Three invited lectures on religious experience in modern society at the Natick Ecumenical Conference Center, Natick, MA, Oct. 2-3, 1981.A lecture on religion and science at the Christos House Foundation, Rutgers University, Oct. 8, 1981.Paper, "Religion, Psychology, and Modernity" presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, December, 1981.
QUOTED: "Jones uniquely blends his experience … to compellingly affirm the interdependence of mind, body, and spirit."
Jones, James W. Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice: Lessons from Buddhism and Psychotherapy
Donna Chavez
Booklist. 100.4 (Oct. 15, 2003): p361.
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The road to physical, spiritual, and psychological health may be paved with such practices as meditation, prayer, and attendance at Sunday services. That is, act as if you believe, and not only will you eventually believe, but you will also feel better during the process. Discipline, says Episcopal priest and psychologist Jones, is what brings people into contact with their primal experiences, contact that, in turn, contributes to overall good health. He notes studies finding that religious practice for its own sake is associated with lower levels of psychological distress and reductions in anxiety and depression. He knows whereof he speaks, since he often addresses in his clinical practice issues that once fell within the purview of priests and rabbis. Emphasizing that spirituality is one way people define themselves, Jones uniquely blends his experience as clinical psychologist, Christian clergyman, and student of Buddhism to compellingly affirm the interdependence of mind, body, and spirit.
Chavez, Donna
QUOTED: "Jones's dogged insistence that faith is nothing without patient, persistent practice is ultimately modest and a welcome report."
Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice
Publishers Weekly. 250.39 (Sept. 29, 2003): p60.
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JAMES W. JONES. Palgrave, $24.95 (192p) ISBN 1-40394102-6
Jones's newest offering is a paradox: a theoretical book about the benefits of religious practice, particularly those practices that promote a mystical encounter with God. Clinical psychologist, religion professor and author of 10 books, Jones draws on his two disciplines, religion and psychology, to argue that the practice of faith, not the content of one's beliefs, is what makes for a faith-filled life. The practices of prayer, meditation, worship and other disciplines are also the tools for personal transformation--what Jones calls the development of "spiritual selfhood"--and healthier, saner living. But he emphasizes that the awareness of and relationship to God that religious faith promotes must be the end sought, not better health or some other extrinsic purpose. Jones's comparative religions background produces an interesting chapter comparing Jesus Christ as "Anointed One" and Buddha as "Awakened One," two different paths taken and taught in response to human suffering. He also unpacks nuances in tracing the development over time of the Buddhist teaching of emptiness and its relationship to the logos (Word) of the Christian Gospel of John. Some parts of the book aren't as fresh (there's yet another critique of cultural materialism) while others report growing, empirically based understanding of the relationship between religion and health. Jones's dogged insistence that faith is nothing without patient, persistent practice is ultimately modest and a welcome report from the fields of religions, and clinical, practice. (Nov. 19)
QUOTED: "Those who accept that a journey of faith includes doubt and struggle and psychological complexity will likely feel understood and met by this book. Jones invokes no platitudes. He has the courage to call a spade a spade, and a squirrel a squirrel. One way to understand this book is 213 pages of "it sure looks like a squirrel to me." By presuming no necessary dichotomy between divine transcendence and ordinary life, Jones's volume makes an eloquent case for how we can encounter God in the midst of everyday moments, even those involving bushy tails."
In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life: The Courage to Search for Something More
Randall Lehmann
Christianity Today. 39.9 (Aug. 14, 1995): p44.
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"I'm thinking of something with a large, bushy tail, that packs nuts in its cheeks and likes to climb trees. What am I thinking of?" The pastor's question, posed to the youth assembled on the chancel steps during a children's sermon, sparked a response from one brave lad. "I know what the right answer always is, so I'll say 'Jesus,'" he muttered, "even though that sounds an awful lot like a squirrel to me."
If you read james Jones's book looking for the catechetical answers of Christendom, you'll be frustrated--not because Jones is evasive, but because he's addressing readers across a broad spectrum: "This is a book for those committed to particular religious traditions," explains Jones, "and also for those outside any specific faith who still struggle with questions about what might provide meaning, value, and fulfillment in their life."
If you're open to things being a squirrel sometimes, buy this book. Read it. Then read it again. Unlike pop psychology texts-of-the-month that are dashed off by anyone with a rustic cabin and a laptop, Jones, a professor of religion at Rutgers as well as a practicing clinical psychologist, has a long list of scholarly publications and two earned doctorates. It shows. By this I mean not that his work is stuffy or pedantic--far from it. Rather, what shows is this book's depth, the full measure of which may be missed by the casual reader, given Jones's lucidly accessible prose. His text is not burdened with footnotes or other scholarly paraphernalia, although a 23-page appendix offers the interested reader evidence both of further resources to pursue and those upon which Jones has drawn.
The thesis of this book rests on three points. First, our desire to be connected and related to God is fundamentally normal rather than something reducible to psychopathology, and this connection is central to a sense of well-being and psychological wholeness.
Second, the masks and defensive barriers we habitually employ end up distancing us not only from other human relationships but also from a deeper relationship with the awesomeness of God.
And third, the steps we can take toward knowing God more intimately are similar to the process of discovery by which we can come to know ourselves more honestly and fully. These themes are given vivid expression in stories of Jones's patients (altered to preserve confidentiality), grounding his insights in the particulars of individual lives.
Jones's title, which alludes to the beginning of Dante's Inferno, also calls to mind the title of Scott Peck's perennial bestseller The Road Less Traveled, inviting comparison. Both Jones and Peck address the value of spirituality and highlight the limitations of psychology. And both, while deeply attuned to the Christian message, have worked as clinicians who see a broad spectrum of modern, secular people. For me, however, the similarities end here.
Jones reminds me of two other authors more familiar to evangelicals, Eugene Peterson and Frederick Buechner, who write of spiritual formation and spiritual life as having to do with the discipline of paying attention, especially to the myriad ways God is present in our lives already. If spirituality for Peck is "the road less traveled," for Jones it is not so much off the beaten path as smack dab in the middle of the thoroughfare--for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Spirituality for Jones is mediated in and through our ordinary, flesh-and-blood, bodily existence. It is in this sense deeply incarnational.
This incarnationally developmental sensitivity is evident in the following seven sentences, which also convey a sense of Jones's gift for language:
Growing up, children may learn to speak of God, envisioning God within the limits of their cognitive frame perhaps as a giant man (or women) who lives above the clouds in a great white palace. Children talk to their God as they do their teddy bears, consulting "him" about the weighty matters of childhood.
But the time comes when children trudge off to school and leave behind the enchanted Eden of their private world. There they learn that beyond the clouds are only limitless curves of space bending back upon themselves; no great white palace, no friendly giant God, only the infinite, still emptiness. Gradually the child, now become a young man or woman, may cease to speak of God at all.
But perhaps one day, when staring into the face of his or her own newborn child, or when engulfed by the fierce beauty of the raging ocean or the soaring stillness of the mountains, or when confronted by the grave into which parents or friends have tumbled, or wrestling with recalcitrant fears and anxieties that leap unbidden from the caverns of the mind, the young man or woman, now become an adult, discovers that he or she has (in William James' words) "prematurely closed his accounts with reality" and that there is more to reality than can be dreamt of in any one philosophy. And the grown child may again speak of God, not as a giant in a palace beyond the clouds or a great policeman in the sky, but as a way of connecting with that sacred mystery that surrounds us.
As Jones's reference to "that sacred mystery" suggests, his understanding of God falls short of Christian orthodoxy. For Jones, God is the central mystery that all religious traditions point to but cannot grasp. At the same time, he insists on the reality of the sacred.
Those who accept that a journey of faith includes doubt and struggle and psychological complexity will likely feel understood and met by this book. Jones invokes no platitudes. He has the courage to call a spade a spade, and a squirrel a squirrel. One way to understand this book is 213 pages of "it sure looks like a squirrel to me." By presuming no necessary dichotomy between divine transcendence and ordinary life, Jones's volume makes an eloquent case for how we can encounter God in the midst of everyday moments, even those involving bushy tails.
QUOTED: "The book is readable, the ideas accessible and easily palatable."
In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life: The Courage to Search and Something More
Publishers Weekly. 242.2 (Jan. 9, 1995): p39.
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James W. Jones. Harper San Francisco, $20 (225p) ISBN 0-06-250960-8 (Spirituality/Psychology)
The search for the intimacy that gives life meaning is a process involving both spiritual and psychological dimensions. Psychologist James Jones, professor of Religion at Rutgers University, explores the nexus of these two processes in the lives of ordinary men and women who want "something more" out of life. He challenges established orthodoxies within both fields, collapsing dichotomies that typically separate them and showing instead their interrelatedness in the search for meaning. This is a personalized exploration of how men and women are able to transcend the discontent of their lives, the "malaise of modernity," as Jones calls it, through psychological and spiritual transformation. Jones's conservative and commonsensical treatment of the topic is both a strength and a drawback. The book is readable, the ideas accessible and easily palatable, but, especially as one nears the end, they come dangerously near to blandness. (Jan.)
QUOTED: "The book will have broad appeal to scholars of science and religion."
Jones, James W.: Can science explain religion?: the cognitive science debate
J.A. Hewlett
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 53.10 (June 2016): p1488.
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Jones, James W. Can science explain religion?: the cognitive science debate. Oxford, 2016. 236p bibl index afp ISBN 9780190249380 cloth, $24.95; ISBN 9780190249397 ebook, contact publisher for price
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Friedrich Nietzsche is notable for declaring that "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." If God is truly dead, the death must have been slow, despite modernity's shepherding in a rapidly advancing scientific understanding of the world. Jones (religion, Rutgers Univ.) does not deny the expansion of an empirical world view, but he argues against a concomitant deflation of religion. He focuses on what he refers to as "crusaders" or "debunkers," i.e., those who claim that modern understanding of cognitive processes is the hammer that drives the final nail in the coffin of religious belief. More broadly, Jones provides a compelling defense against attacks on religion of reductive physicalism. The highlight of the book is chapter 3, in which Jones offers nine problems associated with a purely physicalist world view. What follows is a compelling, methodical deconstruction of the atheist attempt to use cognitive science to "explain" religion. Though a general background in cognitive science and philosophy is required to garner a full appreciation of the arguments, the book will have broad appeal to scholars of science and religion. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.--J. A. Hewlett, Finger Lakes Community College
QUOTED: "This book is a refreshing addition to the plenitude of lesser works on fundamentalism, violence, and terrorism."
The Fundamentalist mindset: psychological perspectives on religion, violence, and history
M.A. Toole
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 48.3 (Nov. 2010): p516.
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The Fundamentalist mindset: psychological perspectives on religion, violence, and history, ed. by Charles B. Strozier et al. Oxford, 2010. 274p index alp ISBN 9780195379655, $99.00; ISBN 9780195379662 pbk, $19.95
No one volume can ever account for all the elements that contribute to fundamentalism, but the authors represented in this book maintain that understanding the psychological processes that shape the "fundamentalist mindset" is an important step toward explaining the complicated relationship between fundamentalism and violence. Strozier (John Jay College), David M. Terman (Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis), and James W. Jones (Rutgers Univ.), with Katherine A. Boyd (PhD student at John Jay College), use the tools of psychoanalysis to better understand the attending causal factors. They examine motivations for fundamentalist-inspired violence, including paranoia reified through radical dualistic notions of the world, the distillation and institutionalization of this paranoia into apocalyptic notions of existential threats from evil "others," and subjective experiences of humiliation and shame. The second half of the book involves the useful application of these theoretical interpretations in examinations of contexts such as American Christian fundamentalism, global jihadist movements, and India's Hindutva movement. Readers unfamiliar with psychoanalytic theory initially may find the project dense, but this book is a refreshing addition to the plenitude of lesser works on fundamentalism, violence, and terrorism published since September 11, 2001. Summing Up: Highly recommended. *** Academic libraries; upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.--M. A. Toole, High Point University
Toole, M.A.
QUOTED: "Students of religion will ... find much food for thought in these pages."
Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology
W.W. Meissner
Theological Studies. 58.3 (Sept. 1997): p587.
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By James W. Jones. New Haven: Yale University, 1996. Pp. xii + 164. $22.50.
Jones is a clinical psychologist, professor of religious studies at Rutgers and a practicing psychotherapist. His opening chapter presents a review of Freud's approach to the origins of religion, stressing the location of religion in the superego and the id and Freud's effort to replace religion with science. Next the argument moves to replace Freud's view of human nature, caricatured as isolated, mechanistic and reductionistic, with a view of man as relational and all psychic functions as relationally embedded. The resulting view of analysis is cast in relational terms, as concerned with, embedded in, and adequately accounted for in terms of relationships. J. has boarded the relational bandwagon which is currently the analytic rage, but whether the fact that the self lives in relationships from the beginning and is capable of relations at many levels makes the self inherently, essentially, and exclusively relational remains an open question.
This relational psychology, originating with Macmurray, Fairbairn and Winnicott, is extended to a relational theology. Here relational concepts sweep the field, but give rise to some difficulties. The effort comes around to a form of psychologizing of theology, in which all terms are drawn into the relational perspective--including the existence of God. But the idea of God as inherently relational, i.e. without meaning except in terms of relatedness to man, would trouble many theologians. Also J. does a disservice to some of his sources. He tries to separate my own thinking about transitional concepts from Winnicott's notions of experience and creativity-ideas on which transitional conceptualization is actually based. Likewise, he forces Rizzuto into saying that God's reality is that of a transitional object, whereas she regards only the God-representation as transitional, leaving the question of God's existence open to theological definition. Students of religion will otherwise find much food for thought in these pages.
QUOTED: "It is not always possible to detect an impartial tone in some of the chapters. Nor are there many suggestions about ways to combat what the authors see as a worrying trend. Nevertheless. the book will be of interest to scholars of many different fields, from religious studies to sociology to history to politics. But I venture that it may be of greater interest to the curious general reader who may be trying to understand not only how these ideas arise, but what they mean for us in our everyday lives."
Review - The Fundamentalist Mindset
Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History
by Charles B. Strozier, David M. Terman & James W. Jones
Oxford University Press, 2010
Review by Mark Welch, Ph.D.
Feb 15th 2011 (Volume 15, Issue 7)
There are probably no issue that exercises our political and social analysts more that the nature, origins, effects, importance and understanding of fundamentalist beliefs. We have seen, and continue to see daily, dramatic, radical and polarizing political, social and religious action in the name of some set of fundamentalist belief system or another. We are constantly confronted with liberators or terrorists depending on your point of view that speak and act with utter conviction, and see no other truth than the one they proclaim. This fascinating collection of essays seeks to understand the core concepts that fundamentalisms of all stripes have, whether they be Christian or Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu, secular or religious. It looks to explore the personal, group and social psychology, and ground its analysis in the commonalities rather than the particulars of the belief systems.
The book assumes that the reader has a fairly uncomplicated view of what fundamentalism is. It does not concern itself overmuch with the historical origins of the term, or to whom it has been applied and when and why. The book itself is a product of a conference organized by two of the editors (Strozier and Terman) in February 2005, which was then followed through late 2006 to 2008 by a series of monthly seminars in which the psychology of fundamentalism was explored and gradually took the conceptual shape we see now. The editors do mention in passing that there was much food, good bourbon and acceptable wine, but there is little indication of their influence on the writing -- or if it is there, it certainly helped. On the contrary, the writing is sharp and pertinent, precise and persuasive and greatly illuminates the subject.
In an early essay the mindset that so disposes its adherents towards intolerance and violence is characterized by a sense of radical (in its true meaning of being at the root of an idea) dualism -- black and white thinking in its starkest form, right and wrong, us and them; an apocalyptic view of the world -- an end-times perspective that is somehow cleansed by violence; a literalist view of seminal texts -- most usually religious ones that brook no discussion or alternative; a paranoid psychological state -- everyone is against us the elite, the saved, the only true believers; and a totalized conversion experience -- something that encompasses all aspects of life. This theoretical construct is then applied to specific ideologies and belief systems, specific forms of social organization and specific times and circumstances. And it is compelling reading.
The book is divided into four sections. The first tries to answer the question of what the fundamentalist mindset might actually be. It considers the essential dualistic nature of the belief systems, as already mentioned, the contagion and self-justification of paranoia, the frequent apocalyptic vision of the near future and charismatic leadership and the totality of conversion to the beliefs or ideology. It often seems, in fact, that such belief systems are more often fuelled by converts than not.
The second section examines the motivations for violence -- for again violence, towards opponents and apostates is very common. Unsurprisingly, but perhaps somewhat sadly, violence is associated with this complex of ideologies, paranoia, conspiracies and dualism.
The third section looks in more detail at Christian and American contexts. This is some ways is the most chilling part of the book. It examines in some detail the genre of end-times literature, and its quite astonishing success. It analyzes the conflation of eclectic religiosity and populist rhetoric and identifies the factors that make such demagoguery so difficult to counter -- any criticism is seen not as a debate, but as an attack and a quick route to the justification of victimhood -- and in the eyes of many, including the authors, so dangerous to liberal democracy. Taking a cue from The Book of Revelations it lists its own seven seals of the fundamentalist mindset: violence (for this is not only the way the world will end, but it is justified in bringing it about); time (dates, years and numbers all feature prominently, often embedded in secret cosmic codes); revenge (which is righteous, of course); paranoia (because everyone really is against those who believe); survivalism (and it is clear who will survive); the Elect (those who will survive); and redemption (of those who survive, by those who survive). The authors point out, however, that these ideas are not necessarily only confined to fringe groups, but are often to be found, albeit in a diluted or sanitized form, heading into the mainstream.
The fourth section gives a global and historical perspective, perhaps to counterbalance the previous section, but also to bring out the commonalties of the mindset more clearly. It looks at Islam and Hinduism in detail, and also the French Revolution, particularly the events leading up to the Terror, and the millenarianism of the Nazis.
It may be argued that there have always been end-time believers, conspiracy theorists, purveyors of paranoid rhetoric and so on. Some may suggest that many pivotal religious movements come out of such times; that out of moment of crisis an alternative arises. However, the fundamentalist mindset, as described in this very fine book is seen to pose a threat and, by its very nature, be dangerous to our polity -- and that is a serious question.
It is not always possible to detect an impartial tone in some of the chapters. Nor are there many suggestions about ways to combat what the authors see as a worrying trend. Nevertheless. the book will be of interest to scholars of many different fields, from religious studies to sociology to history to politics. But I venture that it may be of greater interest to the curious general reader who may be trying to understand not only how these ideas arise, but what they mean for us in our everyday lives.
© 2011 Mark Welch
Mark Welch, Ph.D., British Columbia, Canada.
The Mirror of God
Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice -- Lessons from Buddhism and Psychotherapy
By James W. Jones
Explores all these avenues of personal transformation.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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"Christianity should be more centered on practice and experience than on belief," writes James W. Jones, a professor of Religion and Psychology at Rutgers University. Although the Desert Fathers and Mothers in early Christian tradition explored many rigorous spiritual disciplines in order to draw closer to God, correct belief has been the emphasis in the faith for centuries. In this visionary work, Jones explores the multidimensional benefits of spiritual practice. The author is an Episcopalian whose life has been enriched by karate and the study of Tibetan Buddhism.
Jones believes that the "mighty pluralism" makes it possible for anyone to consider other religions. Some Christians have realized the embodied dimension of spiritual practice by trying yoga or Tai Chi. Jones shares what he has learned from his practice of karate. However, he cautions against getting too caught up in jumping from one practice to another. He thinks it is still best to stay grounded in one's own religious tradition. As an illustration, he points out that Christians can think of communal worship as a spiritual practice that requires consistency, attentiveness, and active participation.
Jones discusses the merits of Buddhism and Christianity. Both have sought to diminish egotism and replace it with compassion. In one, the path is mindfulness training whereas in the other, the emphasis is upon a relationship with God that brings about a changed behavior. For the author, both Buddha (the Awakened One) and Jesus (the Annointed One) are teachers of wisdom. Both religions have demonstrably positive effects on practitioners in terms of healthy behaviors, social support, coherence, and meaningfulness.
Americans who regularly do a spiritual practice are involved in an act of resistance against contemporary society. According to Jones, they are challenging the shibboleths of scientific and technical rationality as the only way to understand the world and the idea that an abundance of material possessions is the path to happiness. Spiritual practice also offers what many people have sought through psychotherapy — a reduction of stress, a different way of thinking about everyday situations, and personal transformation.
Jones uses his love for white-water canoeing as a model for approaching life. Here the accent is on going with the flow and encountering obstacles as they come.
QUOTED: "Jones does not quite deliver on the promise of the title to investigate 'psychology' beyond psychoanalysis, to engage feminism extensively, or to give theology comparable weight. But he succeeds well in sharpening psychoanalytic arguments for the importance of religion and the reality of God."
Review of Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology
by James William Jones
Review of Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology
by James William Jones
If Sigmund Freud created psychoanalysis to resolve a conflict between scientific
Enlightenment thought and orthodox religious belief, as some argue, then the
work of James Jones, clinical psychologist and religion professor, might be charac-
terized as one further step in the struggle. Questions raised by an earlier publica-tion, Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1991), lead Jones back into three further explorations in Religion and Psy-
chology: Freud's influence on the interpretation of religion, the role of gender,
and the theological implications of psychoanalytic views. In many ways, Jones's
objective is modest: to show how more receptive readings of religion evolve out
of recent changes in psychoanalytic theory. Reversing Freud's own position, Brit-
ish object relations theory and the American school of self psychology suggest
that religion arises from pre-oedipal, maternal dynamics, rather than from inter-
nalized paternal authority or distorted narcissistic wishes, and plays a creative
role in human well-being. Whether this answers or sim~lv extends the ~roblem n l i
introduced by Ludwig Feuerbach is perhaps the biggest question left dangling
throughout the book until the final chapters. Assessment of Jone's answer is espe-
cially important since he claims theological relevance for his investigation.
The book is divided into two parts around Freud's twofold reading of religion
as a superego formation and as a narcissistic deviation of the id. The first part
investigates psychoanalytic and theological theories of the relational dimension
of human nature and implications for religion and therapy. The second part
moves from new understandings of narcissism into epistemological questions.
Chapters in the first section move from Freud to offer concise summaries of large
bodies of thought, from W. R .D. Fairbairn and Heinz Kohut to Paul Tillich,
Martin Buber, John Macmurray, and feminist and process theology, all of which
presume as fundamental the constitution of personhood and reality in rela-
tionality. The fulcrum of development and, in turn, pathology shifts from the
drives and oedipal struggles to the quality of early relationships. Religion in this
view is less a pathological aberration of misdirected drives than a factor in the
self's pursuit of cohesive structures in a relational matrix. Jones illustrates with
two cases that oddly revolve around ambiguous father (not mother) images.
Up to this point, Jones does not add much to his earlier work or the work of
others. So people find and create gods in the image of human relationships. This,
Freud (among others) established. What more do we glean from Jones's review?
To my mind, the second part of the book, using recent psychoanalytic theories torevise understandings of knowing, is where the discussion gets interesting. New
views of narcissism, the id, transitional process, and illusion as sources of creativ-
ity and imagination, rather than primitive states to be outgrown, signal important
changes in psychoanalytic theories of knowing that cohere with philosophical ar-
guments in Richard Bernstein and others about the inseparability of objectivity
from subjectivity and data from theory. In assessing the ontological status of God,
Jones ventures slightly-but just slightly-beyond ha-Maria Rizzuto and Wil-
liam Meissner's functional view of religious symbols as fictive creations. The real-
ity of God exists in the intermediary space of interaction and is both there and
not there, created and discovered. Objects of religious knowledge exist in the
paradox of Winnicott's transitional space, with greater specificity within religious
circles than without, and accessible through spiritual disciplines. For postmodern
debates over absolute truth and relativism, Jones provides, then, psychoanalytic
infrastructures for a theory of critical realism. And he provides a nice psychoanal-
ysis of unbelief. The desire to reduce faith to witless or childish thinking embodies
sexist repression of connection, idolization of objectivity, rejection of emotional
experience out of fear of loss of control, and refusal to enter transitional space.
Jones does not quite deliver on the promise of the title to investigate "psychol-
ogy" beyond psychoanalysis, to engage feminism extensively, or to give theology
comparable weight. But he succeeds well in sharpening psychoanalytic argumentsfor the importance of religion and the reality of God. Whether or not object
relations theory is adequate to this task is perhaps less important than the conclu-
sion that new psychological theory is necessary if one is to understand the intra-
psychic and cultural role of religion in a changed world. Freud is less wrong than
short-sighted. The real question becomes whether there is a psychological theory
capable of understanding the complexity of psychological and spiritual life today
and whether faith-committed theologians can pick up the discussion where Jones
leaves off.