Psychologists' emerging interest in spirituality and religion as well as the relevance of each phenomenon to issues of psychological importance requires an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of each construct. On the basis of both historical considerations and a limited but growing empirical literature, we caution against viewing spirituality and religiousness as incompatible and suggest that the common tendency to polarize the terms simply as individual vs. institutional or ′good′ vs. ′bad′ is not fruitful for future research. Also cautioning against (...) the use of restrictive, narrow definitions or overly broad definitions that can rob either construct of its distinctive characteristics, we propose a set of criteria that recognizes the constructs' conceptual similarities and dissimilarities. Rather than trying to force new and likely unsuccessful definitions, we offer these criteria as benchmarks for judging the value of existing definitions. (shrink)

Church father -- Christian Platonist -- Confessions, the search for wisdom -- Confession, love and tears -- Confessions, the road home -- Augustine's career as a Christian writer -- Faith, love, grace -- Evil, free will, original sin & predestination -- Signs and sacrament -- The inner self -- The trinity and the soul -- The city of God.

Psychologists' emerging interest in spirituality and religion as well as the relevance of each phenomenon to issues of psychological importance requires an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of each construct. On the basis of both historical considerations and a limited but growing empirical literature, we caution against viewing spirituality and religiousness as incompatible and suggest that the common tendency to polarize the terms simply as individual vs. institutional or ′good′ vs. ′bad′ is not fruitful for future research. Also cautioning against (...) the use of restrictive, narrow definitions or overly broad definitions that can rob either construct of its distinctive characteristics, we propose a set of criteria that recognizes the constructs' conceptual similarities and dissimilarities. Rather than trying to force new and likely unsuccessful definitions, we offer these criteria as benchmarks for judging the value of existing definitions. (shrink)

DURING THE PAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS, uncertainty and suspicion about the philosophical enterprise have become acute. The educated public is confused about the intellectual and cultural importance of philosophy, and philosophers themselves are divided on its theoretical purpose and meaning. There are, to be sure, specifically philosophical sources of this condition. They include Kant’s critique of traditional metaphysics, the logical positivists’ debunking of ethics and theology, Wittgenstein’s restrictions on the scope of meaningful discourse, Richard Rorty’s call for an end to (...) epistemology, and the deconstructionist attempt to envisage a postphilosophical world. Yet it would be a mistake to assume that the unease of philosophers is solely the result of an intramural debate. The practice of philosophy has always been responsive to the cultural context in which it occurs. The extended crisis of philosophy through the last two centuries is the natural reflection of an ongoing crisis in modernity. (shrink)

In the science–and–theology dialogue, it becomes imperative that theologians develop sophistication in empirical method. Albert Einstein stated that to understand what physicists do we should not listen to what they say but watch what they do. Still, he wrote incisively about method in physics. Theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan developed a methodical approach to theology that was influenced by the natural sciences. I present Einstein's thought on epistemology and the relationship between sense experience and theory. I then turn to Lonergan's (...) understanding of empirical method in the natural sciences, generalized empirical method, and his treatment of Einstein's work. (shrink)

In a convenience sample of 280 men and 319 women, aged 40 to 54, three constructs were correlated: Lonergan's authenticity , measured by Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale and Ryff's autonomy subscale; concern for purpose in life , measured by Crumbaugh and Maholick's The Purpose in Life Test , Crumbaugh's The Seeking of Noetic Goals Test , Crandall's Personal Trait Value Scale , and an exploratory Adult Social Responsibility Scale , constructed for this study; and midlife crisis , measured by Dragani's Mid-Life (...) Crisis Scale and two single-item questions regarding Midlife Crazies and Midlife Reassessment . Analyses revealed positive correlation between AUTH and CPIL and between CPIL and MLC but none between AUTH and MLC, though low AUTH was related to MLCraz. Thus, existential concern about meaning and purpose in life is a core facet of midlife transition and of MLC, when it occurs; but people open, honest, and good-willed tend not to experience MLT as a crisis, so MLC is not normative. Other conclusions included these: AUTH and CPIL are measurable constructs; PTVS, in contrast to ASRS, measures interpersonal, rather than broad societal, "social interest"; MLCS does not measure MLC; a ninth "crisis" ought to be added to Erikson's psychosocial stages; about 50% of subjects report MLC; women report more MLC and deal with it better than men; age, even when SES is taken into account, has no relation to MLC; MLC is often a repeated, on-going experience and occurs in different forms; MLC may be, but should generally not be considered, pathological. Underlying this study, and expressed in the measures of AUTH and CPIL, was an elaborated theory of spirituality as a normative or prescriptive specialization in psychology. So this study of meaning and value in midlife was taken to be a study in spirituality, and MLT was shown to entail a spiritual challenge, sometimes experienced as a crisis. This study exemplifies the possibility of empirical study of spirituality, according to standard psychological methodology and, though necessarily open to these, apart from all religious, theological, or "metaphysical" considerations. (shrink)