The historicocultural approach in the psychology of religion: Perspectives for interdisciplinary research

Journal/Book: J Sci Stud Relig. 1997; 36: Purdue University, 1365 Stone Hall, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1365. Soc Scientific Study Religion. 358-371.

Abstract: The psychology of religion always having to orient itself toward a more general psychology and its object being very diverse, the branch of human science called hermeneutical psychology is suggested as the most appropriate and viable to study religiosity. After emphasizing that the subdiscipline's object is a culturally constituted phenomenon to be understood by psychology in a historical perspective, special attention is given to the historical variant of cultural psychology. Three subvariants and their relation to the psychology of religion are pointed out. Psychohistory is presented both as an example of an older inclination within the psychology of religion to take the historical-cultural embeddedness of religious phenomena into account, and as an advanced possibility for conducting interdisciplinary research.

Note: Review Belzen JA, Univ Amsterdam, Oude Turfmarkt 147, NL-1012 GC Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS

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