Spirituality and counseling book report

Group Counseling, Counseling Psychology, Therapies, Religion

Research from Book Report:

Religion Mindset

In the book Invites to the Psychology of Religion, author Raymond Paloutzian assesses and carefully looks at scholarship that links religious beliefs and mindset. Philosophers and psychologists have got raised queries and viewed for answers over the centuries about religion, denominations, personal faith and God’s role. In Paloutzian’s book the approach is usually scholarly and meticulous. This paper reports three distinctions and similarities between religious beliefs and mindset.

Psychology and Religion – Similarities and Differences

In clarifying personal vs . institutional religious behavior, Paloutzian talks about that a person may well be component to religious “social group” that is certainly in effect a spiritual institution. That individual, for the sake of model, could be Legislation. He attends a synagogue and participates socially with others within the Jewish trust. But there is also a psychological process taking place within the individual that serves to identify between a single believer and another believer. Paloutzian take into account the possibility that one person within that social spiritual organization may well believe that Goodness hears and answers prayer – when another in the group of believers may not completely accept that concept. That second person may believe the action of praying is a good approach to release deep psychological thoughts but he might not really consider God can be listening. With regards to the Jewish faith, equally individuals are people (similarities), but when it comes to the psychological aspect of a practicing believer, you will discover distinct distinctions. Hence, the religious similarity is they both practice the Legislation faith and the difference is definitely they have completely different ways of taking part psychologically inside the same faith based institution (Paloutzian, 1996, g. 9).

On page 57 Paloutzian finds similarities between psychology and religion as he talks about that the two psychological and religious habit function on the “assumption that behaviorand the points we choose to do of our personal free will” results from “natural cause-effect regulations. ” He goes on to point out that each take action a person engages in is dependent upon natural cause-effect laws, and this particular take action would be repeated given comparable conditions.

Paloutzian projects a scenario where a person features “a immediate religious conversion” (64). Problem he postures is this: when there is a emotional explanation with this conversion and also a psychological explanation (in confront both answers were valid), can they both be valid explanations? The psychological explanation