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Showing papers in "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in 1964"



Journal Article•DOI•
Joe R. Feagin1•
TL;DR: In the last few years research on the relationship of religion and prejudice has turned up striking, although contradictory, results as discussed by the authors, showing that people are much more prejudiced toward ethnic groups than their unchurched counterparts.
Abstract: In the last few years research on the relationship of religion and prejudice has turned up striking, although contradictory, results. On the one hand, several studies concerning church members have shown them to be much more prejudiced toward ethnic groups than their unchurched counterparts.L On the other hand, several investigations, such as the one by G. Schinert and C. E. Ford,2 have measured

245 citations


Journal Article•DOI•

130 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Worker in the Cane as discussed by the authors is both a profound social document and a moving spiritual testimony that describes the life of a worker in rural Puerto Rico during the Depression and his hardships when he was blacklisted because of his outspoken convictions.
Abstract: Worker in the Cane is both a profound social document and a moving spiritual testimony. Don Taso portrays his harsh childhood, his courtship and early marriage, his grim struggle to provide for his family. He tells of his radical political beliefs and union activity during the Depression and describes his hardships when he was blacklisted because of his outspoken convictions. Embittered by his continuing poverty and by a serious illness, he undergoes a dramatic cure and becomes converted to a Protestant revivalist sect. In the concluding chapters the author interprets Don Taso's experience in the light of the changing patterns of life in rural Puerto Rico.

101 citations



Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: It has been shown in a number of studies that about thirty percent of religious people report a more or less sudden conversion experience, while the others become gradually more religious as a result of social influences as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: IT has been shown in a number of studies.that about thirty percent of religious people report a more or less sudden conversion experience, while the others become gradually more religious as a result of social influences.' Religious conversion has often been considered to be, caused by a type of temporary neurotic condition, resolution of which results in the establishment of a "new life . Definitions of the term "conversion" generally emphasize this aspect, e. g.:

38 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, a typology of religious institutions and religious leaders has been developed by sociologists of religion, but few attempts have been made to classify people in their orientation to religion.
Abstract: C LASSIFICATIONS of religious institutions and religious leaders have been developed by sociologists of religion,' but few attempts have been made to classify people in their orientation to religion. Typologies within the psychology of religion have usually been developed with reference to some feature of Christian behaviour. Thus William James accepted Starbuck's typology based on whether people are susceptible to gradual or sudden conversion,2 sayingthat "the difference between the two types is after all not radical."3 When discussing conversion, Clark assumes differences between individuals in comparing the proportions of conversions from 'sacramental Churches' with those from Churches of a 'sterner theology. '4 He attributes these differences to theological features of the denominations, asserting that in Catholicism there is 'less anxiety because of confession, the sacraments and such like,' and so the individual's acceptance of salvation needs less emphasis. Such differences might be expected to show in personality functioning, but there is little empirical sup-

37 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that children's spontaneous conceptions follow a regular sequence from concrete to abstract conceptualization between early (4-6) and late childhood (10-12).
Abstract: FOR research purposes it is convenient to distinguish between the spontaneous and the acquired religion of the child. The child's spontaneous religion consists of all those ideas and beliefs that he has constructed in his attempts to interpret religious terms and practices that are beyond his level of comprehension. For example, upon hearing that God was everywhere, a boy refused to occupy his favorite chair for fear of "sitting on God" and thus revealed his spontaneous conception of God's omnipresence. In contrast to these spontaneous mental constructions there are many religious ideas and beliefs that the child acquires directly from adults either through imitation or through instruction. A child's recitation of the standard definition of theological terms or of particular prayers would thus reflect acquired rather than spontaneous religion. It is fair to say that by far the majority of research on religious development has concerned itself with acquired rather than with spontaneous religion. For example, in many of the studies dealing with the God conception (Barnes, 1892; Tanner, 1906; Bose, 1929; MacLean, 1930; Mathias, 1943) questionnaires were employed which either asked children to choose among standard conceptions of the Deity or required them to complete sentences which strongly suggested the standard conceptions (e. g., "God, where is he?"). While such studies of acquired religion are of value for assessing the degree to which children profit from religious education, they do not reveal the full nature of religious development. Indeed, they can be misleading I In all of the studies mentioned above none of the investigators noted any marked age differences in the God concept even when a considerable age span (4-14) was sampled in the study. Yet, developmental psychology has repeatedly shown (Reichard et. al., 1944; Welch & Long, 1940, a, b, c; Piaget, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1952) that children's spontaneous conceptions follow a regular sequence from concrete to abstract conceptualization between early (4-6) and late childhood (10-12). This is not to say that results from the traditional questionnaire studies of religious development are wrong but only that the acquired religion revealed by these results does not follow the same developmental course as spontaneous religion. Since even the young child can memorize definitions of religious terms, it is not surprising that when children are tested on these definitions the young children do about as well as the older children. If, on the other hand, the understanding of these definitions were to be evaluated, it is likely that significant age differences would be found because the understandings would reflect the child's spontaneous and not his acquired ideas. Only the child's spontaneous ideas follow the sequence from the concrete to the abstract that we have come to expect in developmental studies of concept formation. As yet, however, we have little informa-

26 citations





Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Caleb and his men returned from searching the land after forty days and shewed them the fruit of the land and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: And they returned from searching of the land after forty days ... and shewed them the fruit of the land ... and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey.... Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land ... we saw the children of Anak there .... And Caleb ... said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. (Numbers 13:25-31)









Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The psychiatric approach to mental illness has emerged with the rise of the spirit of rationalism and the method of science in the West as mentioned in this paper, and it has been applied in instrumental operations.
Abstract: Mental illness has plagued and perplexed man immemorially and ubiquitously. Traditionally, this problem has been met in religious terms. The long history of the "cure of souls" attests to this.' 'With the rise of the spirit of rationalism and the method of science in the West, the psychiatric approach to this ancient riddle has emerged.2 Religion and psychiatry have conceived of mental illness and its therapy in radically different ways. Science speaks in the third persongaining its understanding through observation of a world of objects. Its application consists in instrumental operations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: A history of the Jews, a description of their present condition, a discussion of their contribution to civilization, and an outline of their beliefs and practices as Jews are given in this article.
Abstract: Some years ago I undertook to prepare a comprehensive work describing the whole phenomenon of Judaism. It was to include a history of the Jews, a description of their present condition, a discussion of their contribution to civilization .., and an outline of their beliefs and practices as Jews . . . what surprised me ... was the dearth of information about Jews today. There are probably a hundred people, and more, whose profession it is to discover all that can be known about the Jews in Jerusalem in the first century; there does not seem to be one who has the same duty for the Jews of New York in the twentieth century. So it comes about that we understand Judaism in the first century better than we understand Judaism in the twentieth. 1

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Einstein this article argued that science is "the century-old endeavor to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible perceptible phe-phe-Phe-s" and that "science is not only about the special and general theories of relativity, the Brownian movement of molecules, and the many ways in which his penetrating scientific vision has revolutionized the thinking of modern man".
Abstract: THERE is scarcely any fundamental area of human concern that did not challenge the thought of Albert Einstein. Although the great achievements of his genius belong especially in the fields of physics and mathematics, he also wrote on ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, political theory, education, sociology, history of scientific and philosophic thought, and a great deal on religion.' True it is that, except for his theories in the realm of physics and mathematics, he did not treat these fields systematically, scholarly and exhaustively. His writings, however, are abundant enough for the scholar to be able to unravel from their implications the general character of Einstein's thought on ultimate issues, and to appraise by way of internal criticism this thought in terms of Einstein's own dialectics. As the name of Einstein immediately reminds one of the special and general theories of relativity, the Brownian movement of molecules, his influence on quantum analysis, and the many ways in which his penetrating scientific vision has revolutionized the thinking of modern man, one feels naturally inclined to associate him only with science, and particularly, with physical science. A consideration of Einstein's conception of science must be, therefore, illuminating and fruitful. Science is, he tells us, "the century-old endeavor to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phe-


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: A special Study Commission on Glossolalia, appointed by Bishop Pike of California, reports that 'at least twelve clergy and more than two hundred laity are actively involved' at present within the Diocese of California as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: sINCE 1958, Glossolalia, the phenomenon of 'speaking in tongues,' has aroused considerable attention and controversy within the Episcopal Church in America. A special Study Commission on Glossolalia, appointed by Bishop Pike of California, reports that 'at least twelve clergy and more than two hundred laity are actively involved' at present within the Diocese of California, and that 'glossolalia has appeared in a number of dioceses scattered across the country. ' The report refers to two parishes within the diocese where the phenomenon has regularly occurred. Glossolalia occurs in the first parish at




Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors classify the different concepts of the State that have appeared from ancient Greece to our days so as to be able to define it precisely and clearly through a critical analysis.
Abstract: K ELSEN states that the multiplicity of meanings given to the word State is one of the causes of the difficulties in the scientific study of this juridical and sociological entity; it has so influenced the writers on the subject that there is an "unheard of disagreement" in its terminology.' However, it is possible to classify the different concepts of the State that have appeared from ancient Greece to our days so as to be able to define it precisely and clearly through a critical analysis. This is what the eminent Brazilian jurist and sociologist, Pinto Ferreira has done so well in his General Principles of Modern Constitutional Law. The different essential elements of the State according to the classic theory, began to be distinguished by the Greek philosophers. For Aristotle they were: the community and independence; that is, the State is an organized social group that enjoys an absolute freedom to develop its own existence. This Aristotelian concept was further clarified by Bodin who considered sovereignty a fundamental characteristic of the State. These ideas were the point of departure of the majority of writers who conceived the State as "a human collectivity established on a specified territory and endowed with sovereign power."2 In spite