Spring 2012
Psy 471, Psychology of Religion
Wed 2 - 5:40 pm, Stevenson 3042
Syllabus coming soon
This course looks at religious and spiritual experiences in their complexity and manifold natures and attempts to understand them psychologically. Planetary spiritual and religious traditions vary enormously, for example in the very presence or absence of a deity: some have none, some have many; for some a deity is transcendent, for others immanent; for others what-is-called-divine is that which is within oneself as a human being. From such manifoldness, as psychologists we must study our topic from many different perspectives and from many different levels.
This course applies psychological theory and research (in social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, health psychology, depth psychology, humanistic psychology, multicultural psychology, ecological psychology) to attempt to understand the complexity of the phenomena studied. The goal of the course is to understand the psychological functions of the practice of and membership in religious and spiritual groups and traditions; their benefits and drawbacks; and the challenges these traditions present in a post-modern post-911 materialistic scientific and some would say pre-apocalyptic world.
No prior religious or spiritual experience needed, all are welcome in the course: the devout, the atheist, the agnostic, the mystic, the skeptic, the scientist, the artist, the unexamined and the unknown.
James Forsyth, Psychological Theories of Religion
Maggie Oman Shannon, The Way We Pray
Rick Hanson & Richard Mendius, Buddha's Brain
Projects:
1) A semester-long project involves 3 weeks of practice of each of the four paths of Matthew Fox's creation spirituality: the Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa, and Via Transformativa;
2) a sacred site visit to a tradition quite different from what one knows;
3) and a semester-long investigation into unexpected and surprising modalities of prayer (appropriate even for atheists).
A Reader will be available for purchase at the Copy Shop on E. Cotati Ave. at the start of classes. Texts can be picked up from North Light Books on E. Cotati in the few days before the first class, or ordered online from Amazon or half.com or other online sources.
Film Resources
Acting on Faith 2005 43” religious activism in 3 women Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism
American Mystic 2010 80” Native American sundance, pagan Wicca, mediumship
Art of Faith 2009 2 ½ hrs. sacred architecture Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Brilliant Moon 2011 58” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dastaar 2005 13” Sikh discrimination
Eastern Mystics 2011 4-part series 2 hr each Theravada Buddhism, Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, Advaita, Tao
Fierce Light 2005 95” spirituality and social activism, Thich Nat Hahn, Joanna Macy, Julia Butterfly Hill, Desmond Tutu, Noah Levine, others
God in America 6-part series 50-56” each, history of mostly Christianity in US; http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/
God on the Brain 2003 50” BBC YouTube
Griefwalker 2008 70” interview with Canadian Stephen Jenkinson, his work with dying
Into Great Silence 2005 111” Monastic practice
Le Quattro Volto 2011 90” cycles spirituality
Pluralism in America 2005 59” Diana Eck
Raw Faith 2011 90” Unitarian female minister’s life changes
Renewal 2007 90” religion-environmental movement, Evangelical, GreenFaith, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhism Green Sangha, Catholic, Native American, Interfaith
Scared Sacred 2006 105” human spirit within destruction
Through the Eastern Gate 2008 52” Buddhism Yoga Tantra Sufi
What do You Believe? 2002 50” Teen interviews, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Paganism, Native American, Judaism
With One Voice 2010 78” mystics Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sufism, Shamanism, and Buddhism
Nature and Spirituality
Rivers and Tides 2003 90” Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork in nature
The Spirit of the Serpent 2008 60” earth energy and sacred sites in nature
Websites
www.pluralismproject.org Diana Eck’s website, Harvard project on religious pluralism in US
http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/outreach/tour.html Sacred spaces