Lecture explores links in religion, psychology

PUBLISHED by The Daily Free Press

Religion often stands alone as separate from the state, but not necessarily separate from psychology, as some graduate students and professors learned last night at the Photonics Center.


More than 40 people from the School of Theology attended the first in a series of monthly lectures about the connection between the studies of religion and psychology as studied by the Albert and Jesse Danielsen Institute. The three-year lecture project is funded by a $500,000 grant given to the Institute last April by the John Templeton Foundation.

Boston University philosophy, theology and ethics associate professor Wesley Wildman gave the first lecture in the series called "Religious and Psychological Well-Being."

Danielsen Institute Executive Director Robert Neville said the community will enjoy a "long-range study of what experts in religion can learn from experts in psychology . . . and what psychologists can learn from religion."

Neville said Wildman was the best choice as a primary speaker because of his 10 years of research on religious experience. Wildman's lecture emphasized what he said is the need to study the complexities of religion from many viewpoints.

"Religious experience is very important and not very well understood," Wildman said. "There have been a lot of attacks on religion in the media . . . but it is possible to take seriously religious experiences despite these attacks."

Wildman presented historical and current examples of understanding spiritual encounters using psychology and science.
Psychology, he said, plays an important role in forming beliefs and interpreting experiences of all religions.

"It's important [to study the two fields together] because if you don't, I think you're a little bit limited in ability to see what's going on internally in the community," said School of Theology graduate student Roy Smith.

Smith said Wildman also addressed society's role in forming religious understanding.

"It's not possible to interpret [religion] without biases, because we bring our experience and cultural context," Smith said.

In addition to the lectures, the Templeton Grant has also financed graduate seminars and regular meetings of a faculty research group, whose findings will result in a publication of the team's discussions. Wildman said the publication will be the grant's most beneficial component for BU.

"BU stands to profit most importantly for cutting-edge research of human life. . . . It's good for BU to be the forefront of thought for that," Wildman said. "I found it moving [to meet] so many different people and angles to the topic."