Religious psychology syllabus1

Religious Psychologies 101; An undergraduate course

J. Michael Murphy, Ed.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

Harvard Medical School

; 617-510-3927

Over the past few decades, psychologists have begun to explore the potential of combining religious worldviews with modern psychology. The field of Christian psychology in particular has grown steadily to the point where it now has several different national organizations with thousands of members, journals, textbooks, television shows with millions of viewers, and some of the bestselling books of all time. This college level course reviews the state of religious psychologiestoday and in the process provides a framework broad enough to encompass all modern secular psychologies, deep enough to address humanity’s most important concerns, and true enough to withstand the shockwaves from the present, past, and future that continually buffet our worldviews. The course meets on Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30 pm for 14 weeks beginning September 7, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The instructor

This course is taught by Michael Murphy, Ed.D., a licensed clinical psychologist at Massachusetts GeneralHospital and an Associate Professor of Psychology at the HarvardMedicalSchool where he has taught a course in research methods to psychiatric residents at HMS for the past fifteen years. As a senior psychologist at MGH, Dr. Murphy has had the opportunity to collaboratewith leaders in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, psychopharmacology, and medicine. Dr. Murphy has published more than fifty papers on his own research in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. His major research interest is on showing the impact of mental health in pediatric and educational outcomes. For the past twenty years Dr. Murphy has also practiced as a Christian psychologist at the NewlifeCounselingCenter in Waltham. Dr. Murphy is married and has three children.

The schedule

Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30 pm at MGH

Sep14, 21, 28; Oct 5, 12, 19, 26; Nov 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; Dec 7, 14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

  1. Introduction: Religious psychology in the 21st century;What and why;

Christian psychology as a case in point

PRELUDE:

PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY ARE NOW LESS HOSTILE TO RELIGIOUS APPROACHES

  1. Religious psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School: Peteet, Vaillant, Nicholi

Readings: Psychiatry and Christianity (Peteet); Freud and Lewis (Nicholi)

  1. Religion, spirituality, and child psychiatry

Readings: From 2004 Special issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics

  1. Positive Psychology; looking for authentic happiness through values

Readings: Seligman papers

THE SOLUTION: THE PRACTICE OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY IN THE MODERN WORLD

  1. Religious psychology methods: How the Director of NIH on combines science & faith

Readings: Selections from The Language of God, Collins; The Canon, Angier

  1. Recent trends in secular psychology and recent beginnings of Christian psychology Readings: Seligman, Positive Psychology, Gladwell,Blink;Issue 1 of Edification;
  1. The worldview worldview; Shaeffer, Pearcy, Taylor, Dany

Readings: Summit website; Saving Leonardo; Cambodian Buddhist psychology

  1. Overview of the field of Christian psychology; an Protestant view

Readings: History of Christians in Psych(Johnson); Redeeming psych (Roberts)

  1. Paul Vitz and Catholic Psychology; Vitz, IPS, Edification

Readings: Vitz paper, Reconceiving psychology…

REPRISE: THE PROBLEM

  1. Tbe Problem Part I: Freud, Pfister, and The Great Schism

Readings: 3. Freud, The Future of an Illusion; 4. Pfister, Illusion of a future

  1. Psychoanalysis and prospects for a radical atheistic psychology
  2. Oscar Pfister’s reply: The Illusion of a future (Pfister)
  3. The work of Meisner and Rizutto and other recipients of American Psychiatric Assn: Oscar Pfister Award
  1. The Problem Part I1: Relativism and the search for a value free psychology…

Readings: Pope Benedict; Truth and Tolerance; Forms of development, Perry

  1. The status of the search for a value free psychology, science, life
  2. Psychology as religion (Vitz), Psychological seduction (Fitzpatrick)
  3. Relativism is ‘The most profound difficulty of our day’ Pope Benedict
  4. ‘Commitment in relativism’ as the aim of development and education
  5. “There is no right answer”’ is the wrong answer
  1. The gods that failed: challenges of the future: economic breakdown and survival seen through the eyes of a Christian social scientist

Readings: Nicholas Taleb, from Black Swan, interview, Reasons for 2008

APPLICATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

  1. Alcoholics Anonymous; the first and greatest spiritual psychological treatment

Readings: Papers on AA by Hobson, George Vaillant on AA

  1. Soul care; mental health intervention from a Christian psychology point of view

Readings: Foundations for soul care: Eric Johnson; Distinctives of Christian counseling, Rodger Bufford

THE WAY FORWARD

  1. What we have learned from religious psychologies and how they can help to build a just, merciful, viable, sustainable, eternal civilization of love

Readings: Civilization of Love: Martin-Barro, Psychology of liberation;

  1. New hope for the people of God
  2. Facing a frightening future with intelligence, humor, love and God
  3. Towards a sustainable or at least an eternal civilization
  4. The Mission: The movie, the book, and the real story;

Alternative sessions? Jewish Psychology, Buddhhist psychology, Religious psychology and ecological disaster, Religious psychology view of religion in the 21st century, Religious psychology study of Christian psychologists of greater Boston, Review of presentations at two Christian psychology conventions

Readings for Religious Psychologies 101 (original reading list, needs revision)

No books required!Each week I will hand out a Xeroxed packet of about 20 pages with the readings for the next week. Some of the following materials may be used.

Angier; The Canon; (Recommended purchase used book $2 + $4 shipping= $6)

Collins; The Language of God, (Recommended used book; $10)

The Great Work Thomas Berry; (Recommended used book $6)

Christianity and the Survival of Creation, Wendell Berry; (PDF)

A Civilization of Love Anderson ; (Recommended used book $6)

The wounded healer, Nouwen, (chapter; handout)

Vitz, Psychology as religion

Total cost of these materials through Amazon: less than $30