Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION:  AN EMPIRICAL APPROACH (4th ed.)      By Ralph W. Hood,  Peter C. Hill, & Bernard Spilka. Reviewed by  Geoffrey W. Sutton This is the book I wish I had when taking my first course in the Psychology of Religion in the early 1970s.  I can certainly recommend this book to professors and to anyone who wants to learn more about the scientific study of religion. Perhaps my only advice would be to check out the latest edition. I read and taught from the fourth edition of this classic psychology of religion text, which provides an important survey of the state of empirical research in the psychology of religion and spirituality. When I wrote this review, I had just finished teaching a course titled the Psychology of Religion and was pleased I had chosen this text because of the comprehensive and balanced overview the authors offer.  All of the authors are psychological scientists. New to this edition is Peter Hill, Professor of Psycho

LOVE WINS: A BOOK ABOUT HEAVEN,       HELL, and the FUTURE of  EVERY PERSON WHO EVER LIVED    By       Rob Bell   Reviewed by       Geoffrey W. Sutton I have observed that a lot of the adult children of parents in my age group have left conservative churches or left the Christian faith altogether. Some tell me their children identify as spiritual. I get that. My wife and I left conservative churches years ago. Rob Bell is in touch with the bright young people of the 21st century. I understand that conservatives will not agree with his message. And scholars will find his writings too simplistic. Nevertheless, I think Bell is meeting a spiritual need. Following is my summary of his book, Love Wins (Bell, 2011).      Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids Michigan and a graduate of the conservative evangelical Wheaton College and Fuller Theological Seminary. Love Wins is an easy read. Bell is a gifted communicator. Following is a quot

LIVING WELL AND  DYING FAITHFULLY:  CHRISTIAN PRACTICES FOR     END-OF-LIFE CARE   Edited By      John Swinton       & Richard Payne    Reviewed by       Geoffrey W. Sutton “Dying is a spiritual event with medical implications,” opined Gwen London, the former director of the Institute on Care at the End of Life at Duke University (xv).  I am reminded of a story about a Christian health care professional who was glad to be assigned to a pediatric ward from a geriatric ward where elderly patients were dying without having faith in Christ. She believed that God would save children from eternal damnation were they to die. Clearly, religious faith is a significant part of the identity of many people on earth. Most, if not all, religions imbue life and death with meaning. The brute fact of death has been widely studied in psychological science--especially in the context of T error Management Theory where terror refers to the awareness of one's own death. 

THINKING,  FAST AND SLOW           By Daniel Kahneman,  Reviewed by  Geoffrey W. Sutton Kahneman’s analysis of thinking in Thinking, Fast and Slow , is close to a metatheory of human nature. In highly readable prose he explains how numerous psychological experiments document the interplay of two ways human brains process and act upon the myriad of stimuli encountered in daily life. Many reviews have extolled the brilliance of the book and its Nobel-prize winning author. My skeptical bias against excessive public endorsements was on high alert until I began to read. My copy has so many notes that it was hard to condense them for this review. I must confess, this was one of the best psychology books I have ever read.  Daniel Kahneman is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His work with Amos Tversky on decisio

COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY:        A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE      By  Siang-Yang Tan      Reviewed by  Geoffrey W. Sutton In Counseling and Psychotherapy, Tan offers an evaluative review of leading theories and techniques from a Christian perspective. In addition, he describes key features of a Christian approach to counseling and psychotherapy. Having accomplished these two purposes, his book serves as a unique and helpful companion to other recent efforts to integrate the Christian faith and psychological science with the practice of counseling and psychotherapy (e.g.,  Integrative Psychotherapy by McMinn & Campbell  ). Tan organized 17 chapters into three distinct parts. Part one consists of three chapters, which cover basic issues in counseling and psychotherapy. Part two provides an overview of ten major theories and techniques of counseling and psychotherapy. Part three includes four chapters that offer a framework for Christian counseling and p

THE CASE FOR GOD            By Karen Armstrong. Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton Karen Armstrong is a leader in religious affairs. A former Roman Catholic nun, she is a best-selling British author with demonstrated expertise in the monotheistic faiths. In addition to her many speaking engagements, she is a United Nations Ambassador for the Alliance of Civilizations. The Case for God is a misnomer. In the introduction, Armstrong explains her plan to review the history of religious thinking, which illustrates her theme that worldviews have changed in recent decades. Before the age of reason, people sought meaningful ways to view life events; hence, mythos provided guidance and functioned as a primitive psychology. As people learned ways to control their lives and the environment, a greater emphasis on logos (reason) developed. Eventually, these two perspectives appeared disparate. An important part of her thesis is the notion that belief has changed. Religion has bee

THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD:  GODLY LOVE and the  REVITALIZATION of AMERICAN PENTECOSTALISM .          By   Margaret M. Poloma  & John C. Green.               Poloma and Green report findings from a sociological study of the Assemblies of God by interpreting interview and survey data from 447 clergy and 1,827 congregants, contextualized by historical narratives, website documents, previous research, and sociological theories.  They posit that organizational tension between charisma (primal spirituality) and social structure (pragmatic, organizational concerns) can catalyze revitalization; however, extant data are not quite sufficient to support the hypothesized dynamic.  Data illustrate both a commitment to classic Pentecostal experiences (e.g., glossolalia, divine healing) as well as concerns for orthodoxy and structure.  We also see a strong moral stance consistent with their history. Godly Love is offered as a theory to explain a dynamic interaction between bel