The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

Edited by Lisa J. Miller

Oxford Library of Psychology

Highly attractive as a classroom text for both undergraduate and graduate students, this book is a fascinating study in the intersection of religion, science, and psychology.
Includes contributions from eminent scholars in psychology, medicine, and physical and biological sciences.
Part of the OXFORD LIBRARY OF PSYCHOLOGY.

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

Edited by Lisa J. Miller

Description

Postmaterial spiritual psychology posits that consciousness can contribute to the unfolding of material events and that the human brain can detect broad, non-material communications. In this regard, this emerging field of postmaterial psychology marks a stark departure from psychology's traditional assumptions about materialism, making this text particularly attractive to the current generation of students in psychology and related health and wellness disciplines.

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality codifies the leading empirical evidence in the support and application of postmaterial psychological science. Sections in this volume include:

- personality and social psychology factors and implications
- spiritual development and culture
- spiritual dialogue, prayer, and intention in Western mental health
- Eastern traditions and psychology
- physical health and spirituality
- positive psychology
- scientific advances and applications related to spiritual psychology

With chapters from leading scholars in psychology, medicine, physics, and biology, The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality is an interdisciplinary reference for a rapidly emerging approach to contemporary science. This overarching work provides both a foundation and a roadmap for what is truly a new ideological age.

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

Edited by Lisa J. Miller

Oxford Library of Psychology

Introduction by Lisa J. Miller

Part One: Epistemological and Ontological Assumptions in History and Culture

1. History and Current State of Research on Psychology of Religion
Ralph W. Hood Jr.

2. Theoretical and Epistemological Foundations
James M. Nelson and Brent Slife

3. Parameters and Limitations of Current Conceptualizations
Fraser N. Watts

4. Progress in Physics and Psychological Science Affects the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
Everett L. Worthington Jr.

5. Complementarities in Physics and Psychology
C. Edward Richards

Part Two: Personality and Social Psychology: Universalism, Absolutism, and Relativism

6. Personality, Spirituality, and Religion
Eric D. Rose and Julie J. Exline

7. Overview and Development of a Trait-Based Measure of Numinous Constructs: the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) Scale
Ralph L. Piedmont

8. Good and Evil in Religion: The Interpersonal Context
Christopher T. Burris and John K. Rempel

9. Religion, Altruism, and Prosocial Behavior: Conceptual and Empirical Approaches
Elizabeth Midlarsky, Anthony S. J. Mullin, and Samuel H. Barkin

Part Three: Spiritual Development, Family, and Culture

10. Spiritual Development during Childhood and Adolescence
Chris J. Boyatzis

11. Questions Left Unaddressed by Religious Familism: Is Spirituality Relevant to Non-traditional Families?
Annette Mahoney and Elizabeth J. Krumrei

12. Motherhood and Female Faith Development: Feminine Tapestry of Religion, Spirituality, Creativity, and Intuition
Carole A. Rayburn

13. Colored Spirituality: The Centrality of Spirit among Ethnic Minorities
Lillian Comas-Díaz

14. Models of Spiritual Development
Harris Friedman, Stanley Krippner, Linda Riebel, and Chad Johnson

Part Four: Spiritual Dialogue, Prayer and Intention in Mental Health: Western Traditions Moving Forward

15. Spiritually-Sensitive Psychotherapy: An Impending Paradigm Shift in Theory and Practice
Len Sperry

16. Honoring Religious Diversity and Universal Spirituality in Psychotherapy
P. Scott Richards

17. Counseling and Psychotherapy within and across Faith Traditions
Mark R. McMinn, Kimberly N. Snow, and Justin J. Orton

18. Psychoanalysis, Psi Phenomena, and Spiritual Space: Common Ground
Ruth Rosenbaum

19. Spiritual Aspects of Jungian Analytical Psychology: Individuation; Jung's Psychological Equivalent of a Spiritual Journey
Joseph P. Wagenseller

Part Five: Mind, Awareness, and Spirituality in Mental Health: Eastern Traditions Engage Psychology

20. Contemplative Traditions and Meditation
Brendan D. Kelly

21. Translation of Eastern Meditative Disciplines into Western Psychotherapy
Randye J. Semple and Sean P. Hatt

22. Eastern Traditions, Consciousness, and Spirituality
Kartikeya C. Patel

Part Six: Physical Health, Prayer, and Spirituality

23. Spirituality, Science, and the Human Body
Wayne B. Jonas, Matt Fritts, Gail Christopher, Maeba Jonas, and Susan Jonas

24. Spirituality, Emotions, and Physical Health
Crystal L. Park and Jeanne M. Slattery

25. Spirituality, Religion, and Psychological Counseling
Thomas G. Plante

26. Spirituality and Recovery from Serious Mental Problems
David Lukoff

Part Seven: Positive Psychology and Spirituality

27. Positive Psychology and Spirituality: A Virtue-informed Approach to Well-Being
Joseph W. Ciarrocchi

28. Spirituality, Resilience, and Positive Emotions
Bruce W. Smith, J. Alexis Ortiz, Kathryn T. Wiggins, Jennifer F. Bernard, and Jeanne Dalen

29. Constructing the Connection between Spirituality, Work, and Family
Lee Joyce Richmond

30. Spirituality and Positive Youth Development
Peter L. Benson, Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, and Peter C. Scales

Part Eight: The Brain and Spiritual Experience

31. Transformation of Brain Structure and Spiritual Experience
Andrew B. Newberg

32. Neuroimaging and Spiritual Practice
Mario Beauregard

33. The Psychology of Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality
Bruce Greyson

Part Nine: Postmaterial Spiritual Psychology: Scientific Advances in a Spiritual Ontology for Psychology

34. Nonlocality, Intention, and Observer Effects in Healing Studies: Laying a Foundation for the Future
Stephan Schwartz and Larry Dossey

35. Spirituality, Connection, and Healing with Intent: Reflections on Cancer Experiments on Laboratory Mice
William F. Bengston

36. Knowledge, Intention, and Matter
William A. Tiller

37. Consciousness, Spirituality, and Post-Materialist Science: An Empirical and Experiential Approach
Gary E. Schwartz

38. A Post-Materialist Human Science and Its Implications for Spiritual Activism
Amit Goswami

Part Ten: Conclusion

39. Conclusion
Lisa J. Miller

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

Edited by Lisa J. Miller

Oxford Library of Psychology

Author Information

Lisa J. Miller, Ph.D., is Director of Clinical Psychology and Associate Professor at Columbia University Teachers College.

Contributors:

Samuel H. Barkin
Columbia University
New York, NY

Mario Beauregard
Departments of Psychology and Radiology
University of Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

William F. Bengston
Department of Sociology
St. Joseph's College
Patchogue, NY

Peter L. Benson
Search Institute
Minneapolis, MN

Jennifer F. Bernard
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Chris J. Boyatzis
Department of Psychology
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA

Christopher T. Burris
Department of Psychology
St. Jerome's University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Gail Christopher
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Battle Creek, MI

Joseph W. Ciarrocchi
Loyola University in Maryland
Baltimore, MD

Lillian Comas-Díaz
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

Jeanne Dalen
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Larry Dossey
Medical City Dallas Hospital
Dallas, TX

Julie J. Exline
Department of Psychology
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH

Harris Friedman
Department of Psychology
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

Matt Fritts
Samueli Institute
Alexandria, VA

Amit Goswami
Center for Quantum Activism
Eugene, OR

Bruce Greyson
Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA

Sean P. Hatt
Department of Counseling Psychology
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA

Ralph W. Hood Jr.
Department of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN

Chad Johnson
Department of Human Relations
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK

Maeba Jonas
Yale Divinity School
New Haven, CT

Susan Jonas
Samueli Institute
Alexandria, VA

Wayne B. Jonas
Samueli Institute
Alexandria, VA

Brendan D. Kelly
Department of Adult Psychiatry
University College Dublin
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
Dublin, Ireland

Stanley Krippner
College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies
Saybrook University
San Francisco, CA

Elizabeth J. Krumrei
Psychology Department
Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA

David Lukoff
Institute for Transpersonal Psychology
Palo Alto, CA

Annette Mahoney
Psychology Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH

Mark R. McMinn
Department of Clinical Psychology
George Fox University
Newberg, OR

Elizabeth Midlarsky
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York, NY

Lisa J. Miller
Teachers College
College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University
New York, NY

Anthony S. J. Mullin
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York, NY

James M. Nelson
Chinese and Japanese Studies
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, IN

Andrew B. Newberg
Department of Radiology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA

J. Alexis Ortiz
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Justin J. Orton
George Fox University
Newberg, OR

Crystal L. Park
Department of Psychology
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT

Ralph L. Piedmont
Department of Pastoral Counseling
Loyola University Maryland
Columbia, MD

Carole A. Rayburn
Clinical, Consulting, and Research Psychologist in Independent Practice
Silver Spring, MD

John K. Rempel
Department of Psychology
St. Jerome's University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

C. Edward Richards
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York, NY

P. Scott Richards
Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT

Lee Joyce Richmond
School of Education
Loyola University Maryland
Baltimore, MD

Linda Riebel
College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies
Saybrook University
San Francisco, CA

Eugene C. Roehlkepartain
Search Institute
Minneapolis, MN

Eric D. Rose
Department of Psychology
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH

Ruth Rosenbaum
National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis

Peter C. Scales
Search Institute
Minneapolis, MN

Gary E. Schwartz
Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness
Department of Psychology
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

Stephan Schwartz
Samueli Institute
Alexandria, VA

Randye J. Semple
Keck School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

Jeanne M. Slattery
Department of Psychology
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Clarion, PA

Brent D. Slife
Department of Psychology
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT

Bruce W. Smith
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Kimberly N. Snow
George Fox University
Newberg, OR

Len Sperry
Medical College of Wisconsin
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, FL

William A. Tiller
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA

Joseph P. Wagenseller
C. G. Jung Institute of New York
New York, NY

Fraser N. Watts
Reader in Theology & Science
Faculty of Divinity
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK

Kathryn T. Wiggins
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Everett L. Worthington Jr.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

Edited by Lisa J. Miller

Oxford Library of Psychology

Reviews and Awards

"Scholars interested in this field could use the book as a valuable resource for information on a wide variety of topics, sometimes even crossing the borders into other disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality could be a substantial reference for scholars interested in the field, although not every researcher will agree on the ontological assumptions brought to the fore. [F]or those who have access, this volume could be a valuable resource." J. Dezutter, Journal of Empirical Theology