I am a clinical psychologist and Anglican priest based in the University of Oxford. After a long and varied career in the British health service and academia my work now mainly focuses on psychology of religion and Christianity and the arts.

I studied experimental psychology and (later) theology at Oxford University, and clinical psychology and (later) Christianity and the Arts at King's College, London. My clinical work was mainly in the area of neurology and my first PhD was on fear and anxiety following acquired brain injury. My work in psychology of religion has focused on psychology and the Bible. My teaching has been in the areas of pastoral care, especially in the areas of ageing, mental health, and dementia; in the area of spiritual formation, especially the use of insights from positive psychology; and in spirituality and the arts. I am currently pursuing a second PhD at King’s College London on the Visual Commentary on Scripture. I have been passionate about the interface between theology and psychology since I was a teenager.

Publications in the area of psychology and faith include:

Books

• McGrath, A. & Collicutt J. (2007). The Dawkins delusion? Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine. London: SPCK.
• Collicutt, J. (2015). The psychology of Christian character formation. London: SCM.
• Bretherton, R., Collicutt, J., & Brickman, J. (2016). Being mindful, being Christian. Oxford: Lion/Monarch.
• Collicutt, J. (2016). Thinking of you: A spiritual resource for people with dementia. Oxford: BRF.
• Coles, A. & Collicutt, J. (2019). Neurology and religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Collicutt, J. Ind, J., Slater, V., & Webster, A. (2024). Death and life: A church’s guide to exploring mortality. Oxford: BRF.
• Collicutt, J. (2024). So longeth my soul: A reader in Christian spirituality. London: SCM.

Articles (since 2010)

• Collicutt, J. (2011). Editor of special issue of The Psychologist (volume 24, part 4) on psychology and religion.
• Collicutt, J. (2011). Posttraumatic growth, spirituality, and acquired brain injury. Brain Impairment, 12, 82-92.
• Unterrainer, H.F., Huber, H., Sorgo M., Collicutt, J., & Fink, A. (2011). Dimensions of religious/spiritual well-being and schizotypal personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 360-364.
• Collicutt, J. & Gray, A. (2012). ‘‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine’’: Humour, religion and wellbeing. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 15, 759-778.
• Collicutt, J. (2012). Bringing the academic discipline of psychology to bear on the study of the Bible. Journal of Theological Studies, 63, 1-48.
• Unterrainer, H.F., Nelson, O., Collicutt, J., & Fink, A. (2012). The English version of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious-spiritual Wellbeing (MI-RSWB-E): First results for British college students. Religions, 3, 588-599.
• Selvam, S.G. & Collicutt, J. (2012).  The ubiquity of character strengths in African Traditional Religion: A thematic analysis. In H-H Knoop & A. Delle Fave (eds). Wellbeing and cultures: A positive psychology perspective. New York: Springer, pp. 83-102.
• Unterrainer H-F, Lewis, A. Collicutt, J., & Fink, A. (2013). Religious/spiritual well-being, coping styles, and personality dimensions in people with substance use disorders. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23, 204-213.
• Collicutt, J. (2014). Comment on  Reber & Slife’s ‘Theistic Psychology and the Relation of Worldviews:  A Reply to the Critics’. Edification: The Transdisciplinary Journal of Christian Psychology, 7, 1-10.
• Collicutt, J. (2015). Living in the end times: A short course addressing end of life issues for older people in an English parish church setting. Working with Older People, 19, 140-149.
• Slater, V. & Collicutt, J. (2018). Living Well in the End Times (LWET): a project to research and support churches’ engagement with issues of death and dying. Practical Theology, 11, 176-188.
• Collicutt, J. (2019). Clinical applications of resilience, in C. Cook & N. White (eds). Visions of resilience: Pastoral and clinical insights. London: Routledge, pp. 199-215.
• Collicutt, J. (2020). Spiritual awareness and dementia, in M. Salisbury (ed). God in fragments: Worship with those living with dementia. London: Church House Publishing.
• Collicutt, J. (2020). Jesus and psychosis, in C. Cook & I. Hamley (eds). The Bible and mental health. London: SCM, pp. 34-53.
• Collicutt, J. (2021). Perspectives from psychology and Christian theology, in M. Lamb & J. Brant (eds). Cultivating virtue in the university. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 158-171.
• Collicutt, J. (2021). Dementia, God, and human identity. Faraday Papers, 23, 1-6.
• Collicutt, J. (2022).  The role of clinical case studies in understanding the relationship between the brain and faith. Zygon, 57, 616-634.
• Collicutt, J. (2022). ‘human kind Cannot bear very much reality.’:  The relationship between John Ruskin’s visionary aspiration and his mental health. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 25, 231-246.
• Brown, J. & Collicutt, J. (2022). Psalms 90, 91 and 92 as a means of coping with trauma and adversity. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 25, 276-287.
• Collicutt, J. (2023). Why write theology books? Science & Christian Belief, 35, 132-139.
• Collicutt, J. (2024). Psychology, in E. Shively & R. de Sousa (eds) The Routledge handbook of interdisciplinary approaches to biblical studies (in press).
• Aitken, L., MacCann, C., Cavanagh, M., Collicutt, J. (2024). The Common Hope Scale: Initial psychometric properties of a new interdisciplinary derived measure of hope. Personality & Individual Differences (in press).