Must psychoanalysis be hostile to religion? Freud was a staunch critic of religion and grounded his views in psychoanalytic theory. This work details the philosophical bases of Freud's attack on religion and shows how he used multiple arguments drawn from epistemology, pragmatic concerns, and psychology. Although Freud's psychoanalytic theories changed significantly over the course of his work, his criticism of religion remained tied to his early theories of anxiety and wish fulfillment. Chapman shows that Freud's later revision of the anxiety theory provides grounds for a different, less critical view of religious behavior. Such a revised psychoanalytic view of religion overcomes many of Freud's criticisms and is compatible with modern theology. Chapman examines the potential convergence of psychoanalytic theory and the theology of Paul Tillich. This is a reprint version of a 1989 work, with a new preface by the author (2007).

In this book, Henry Idema has developed a theory of religion and culture indebted to the psychological work of Sigmund Freud and the sociological work of Weinstein and Platt, and he has shown the validity of his theory through illustrations from the life and times and work of Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, and F.Scott Fitzgerald. Idema brings a psychoanalytic perspective to his analysis of religion and culture. He starts out by developing a theory of religion focusing on early relationships with the mother and father, and then shows how social forces such as urbanization, industrialization etc. weakened religion in the institutional church, especially in its function of helping men and women to cope with anxiety.

There are no atheists in foxholes; or so we hear. The thought that the fear of death motivates religious belief has been around since the earliest speculations about the origins of religion. There are hints of this idea in the ancient world, but the theory achieves prominence in the works of Enlightenment critics and Victorian theorists of religion, and has been further developed by contemporary cognitive scientists. Why do people believe in gods? Because they fear death. Yet despite the abiding appeal of this simple hypothesis, there has not been a systematic attempt to evaluate its central claims and the assumptions underlying them. Do human beings fear death? If so, who fears death more, religious or nonreligious people? Do reminders of our mortality really motivate religious belief? Do religious beliefs actually provide comfort against the inevitability of death? In Death Anxiety and Religious Belief, Jonathan Jong and Jamin Halberstadt begin to answer these questions, drawing on the extensive literature on the psychology of death anxiety and religious belief, from childhood to the point of death, as well as their own experimental research on conscious and unconscious fear and faith. In the course of their investigations, they consider the history of ideas about religion's origins, challenges of psychological measurement, and the very nature of emotion and belief.

A popular strategy among contemporary critics of religion is to explain religiosity as an evolutionary adaptation -- a behavior pattern that exists simply because it helped our early human ancestors thrive. An effective response to this type of argument requires the ability to integrate social scientific research, philosophical viewpoints, and theological beliefs. Using social scientific research, Beck identifies the flaws in Freud's dismissal of religion as a neurotic defense against mortal dread. Instead, Beck draws on the writings of William James to show the complexity of religious belief, which emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual believer. Written in a way that is accessible to readers who aren't trained in social scientific research, but rigorous in meeting the standards of the social sciences, The Authenticity of Faith is a masterful example of the "new apologetics." (Steven V. Rouse).

Religion in Personality Theory makes clear the link between theory and research and personality and religion. Presently, most personality texts have a limited discussion of religion and reference few theorists other than Freud and Maslow in relation to the subject. This book reviews the theory and the empirical literature on the writings of 14 theorists. Every chapter concludes with a summation of the current research on the theorist's proposals. Reviews: "Frederick Walborn has written an excellent text that explores the degree to which classical personality theorists were personally influenced by and focused upon religion in developing their personality theories. Each theorist is presented in sufficient detail so that their personal views of religion are seen to influence the theories they developed. In addition, the current status of the empirical evidence in the psychology of religion is explored in the context of the theorist and theory to which the data is most relevant. Current and up to date, this text is appropriate for either a course in Personality or as an introduction to the Psychology of Religion. The author's own comprehensive theory of religion and spirituality creatively integrates the positive contributions of the classical personality theorist to the contemporary psychology of religion." -Ralph W. Hood Jr., Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga "In this interesting and accessible book, Frederick Walborn thoughtfully probes the place of religion and spirituality in the writings of a broad range of classical psychological thinkers and offers an insightful critique of current empirical research on the complex relation of religion and spirituality to individual well-being." -Michele Dillon, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire - Identifies what major personality theorists say about religion - Investigates whether evidence supports or refutes predictions made by different theories - Concludes with a comprehensive integrative theory on religion and spirituality

(Dover thrift editions).