Educational resources specifically aimed at RE-level

Birmingham Takes on A-Level Topics - University of Birmingham

These are short, snappy videos from academics in the Theology and Religion department at the University of Birmingham, addressing aspects of the RE curriculum from their perspective and research expertise.  This contains psychology of religion, but also perspectives from other disciplines (e.g., theology, ethics).

RE Today

Carissa Sharp collaborated with the staff of the RE Today resource to create resources based around psychology of religion.  These include:

“Introducing psychology”

Secondary: “Studying God”

Secondary: “Studying Prayer”

Primary: “Investigating God”

Primary: “Investigating Worship”

Text books

The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach, by Ralph Hood, Peter Hill, and Bernard Spilka

-This is a very good overview of the field of psychology of religion.  It can at times be a bit dense (it’s definitely written for at least an upper-level undergraduate audience), but gives a good summary of research on topics such as “Religion in Adolescence and Young Adulthood” and “Mysticism”), and each chapter ends with a short “overview” of what has come before.

Invitation to the Psychology of Religion, by Raymond Paloutzian

-An excellent overview of the field of psychology of religion, and importantly, available open access at the above link.  It covers a huge range of material, but is quite accessibly written, and each chapter ends with very clear and understandable “take home messages”.

An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition and Culture, by Claire White

-A very readable and approachable overview of the field of Cognitive Science of Religion (a very closely related “sister discipline” to psychology of religion), covering topics such as “The afterlife” and “Supernatural agents.”  It also has some useful discussion points/exercises for students that teachers might find useful.

Shorter books on specific topics:

Experimenting with Religion: The New Science of Belief, by Jonathan Jong

-A very accessible book, which addresses some key questions in psychology of religion (e.g., “Does death anxiety drive religion?”) by engaging with original research and explaining the ways in which researchers went about studying those questions, in an accessible way.

The Psychology of Religion(part of The Psychology of Everything series by Routledge), by Vassilis Saroglou

-A very short and accessible book, which gives an overview of research on topics such as “Does religion make us more moral”?

Done, by Daryl van Tongeren

-This book is a short and accessible tour of some of the issues relating to people who have left religion (the “dones”), such as “After religious trauma” and “Crafting a new identity”

The Varieties of Spiritual Experience, by David Yaden and Andrew Newberg

-This is a bit more of a “tome” than some of the others I’ve suggested on this list, but it’s written very accessibly, and it explicitly engages with William James’ seminal work on Varieties of Religious Experience, updating it for the modern age taking a neuroscientific perspective.  This integration with James’ work may make it easier in some ways for teachers to tie it into the RE curriculum.

How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others, by Tanya Luhrmann

-Technically, she would call herself a psychological anthropologist rather than a psychologist of religion, but her work is extremely helpful in understanding how both psychological propensities as well as the things that we do (e.g., rituals) help us to cultivate a sense of God being real.

When Children Draw Gods : A Multicultural and Interdisciplinary Approach to Children's Representations of Supernatural Agents, by Pierre-Yves Brandt, Zhargalma Dandarova-Robert, Christelle Cocco, Dominique Vinck, and édéric Darbellay

-This book looks at how children draw God/gods and the different lenses through which we can interpret these drawings.  A very fun (and importantly, visual!) way of engaging with the topic of God representations.

The Science of Children's Religious and Spiritual Development, by Anette Mahoney

-This is a short, very readable book, which is part of the Cambridge Elements series on child development.  It does just what it says on the tin, giving a broad overview of research on children’s religious and spiritual development.

Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living, by Dmitris Xyglatas

-A 2023 British Academy Book Prize finalist, this is an easy and fascinating read by a cognitive anthropologist whose work dovetails very clearly with psychology of religion and cognitive science of religion.  This book helps us make sense of why people do seemingly “senseless” things and the psychological ramifications of ritual, with chapters on topics such as “order” and “glue”.

Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species, by Will Gervais

-A very engagingly written deep-dive into the study of disbelief/atheism, from a psychological perspective.

An upcoming Cambridge Elements series of short books on Psychology of Religion topics will be coming out, starting in 2025, so stay tuned!

Articles that are more accessible for folks who aren’t used to reading psychology

Review, or theory articles (overviews of an area of research, usually don’t include results sections/statistics):

Current Opinion in Psychology on “Religion”, edited by Vassilis Saroglou and Adam Cohen

This is an excellent collection of review articles (much more accessible than reading results sections full of statistics) on a huge range of topics, on everything from “You can learn a lot about religion from food” to “Why are world religions so concerned with sexual behavior?”

Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging: The Big Four Religious Dimensions and Cultural Variation, by Vassilis Saroglou

              A theory article positing 4 basic dimensions of individual religiosity.

Why Santa Claus is not a God, by Justin Barrett

An article in which the author applies theories from Cognitive Science of Religion about essential aspects of God concepts (e.g., counterintuitiveness, intentionality) to a beloved cultural concept, in order to show what is unique about God concepts and how we can differentiate them from other related but not “religious” concepts.

Articles which contain original studies (including results sections/statistics):

“‘Princess Alice is watching you’: Children’s belief in an invisible person inhibits cheating,” by Jared Piazza, Jesse Bering, and Gordon Ingram

A very fun, ecologically valid example looking at how children behave (cheating less) when they think there is an invisible person in the room (could be seen as an analogue for God/supernatural agents).  This one is particularly excellent to use in classrooms, because there’s also a National Geographic episode including a dramatization of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWx_uVDh4Cw&t=44s

“Mean Gods Make Good People: Different Views of God Predict Cheating Behavior”, by Azim Shariff and Ara Norenzayan

Students in this study were given an easy opportunity to cheat without repercussion, and the authors found that viewing God as “mean” inhibited cheating behavior.

Friends in high places: The influence of authoritarian and benevolent god-concepts on social attitudes and behaviors.”, by Kathryn Johnson, Yexin Jessica Li, Adam Cohen, and Morris Okun

Good behavior isn’t just about not doing bad things.  And this article argues that benevolent views of God are related to prosocial/positive behaviors, while authoritarian views of God are related to increased aggression and decreased willingness to help.

[the three studies above could be seen as a “package” of studies which show that how you set up the study/ask the question will give you different perspectives, and show why it is important to be nuanced in how we think about these kinds of topics]

“A visit from the Candy Witch: factors influencing young children's belief in a novel fantastical being”, by Jaqueline Woolley, Elizabeth Boerger, and Arthur Markman

A very creative developmental psychology study that students should find interesting and easy to follow.  It also is an “ecologically valid” study working with real kids in a daycare, which might make it easier for students to grasp.

“One God but three concepts: Complexity in Christians’ representations of God”, by Carissa Sharp, Jason Rentfrow, and Nicholas Gibson

A study which uses a familiar theological concept (the Trinity) to show how people’s views of God are complex, using different kinds of methods (e.g., questionnaires, reaction time tests).

Differences in Attitudes Toward Outgroups in Religious and Nonreligious Contexts in a Multinational Sample: A Situational Context Priming Study”, by Jordan LaBouff, Wade Rowatt, Megan Johnson, and Callie Finkle

A simple and clear “ecologically valid” study, where researchers used an existing situation in the world (e.g., location – either in front of a religious building or a secular building) to look at the effects of religious environmental cues on people’s attitudes.

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