Psychology and Non-Christian Religions

Abstract

We have so far been treating ‘religion’ as almost synonymous with ‘Christianity’ (and mainstream Christianity at that). This has been largely unavoidable. The modern discipline of Psychology arose in overwhelmingly Christian European-type cultures, only spreading significantly beyond them in the latter twentieth century. Even when, as in the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, Psychology’s host society was explicitly atheist, Christianity was the reference point for any concern with religion. Having said that, as indicated in Chap. 3, non-Christian faiths have not been entirely absent from the historical picture. Those figuring most significantly have been Judaism and Buddhism. Islamic thought was largely ignored until the 1960s, when Sufism began to receive some attention. Hinduism, although the subject of a few works (notably Akhilananda, 1948), has overtly figured even less.