“Mark and Bev Tindall” <> wrote in message news:<>… from http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.htm Notable People in Psychology of Religion by Michael E Nielsen, PhD  © 1994 – 2001 Michael Nielsen ……. William James 1842-1910 A U.S. psychologist and philosopher, James served as president of American Psychological Association, and wrote one of the first psychology textbooks. In the psychology of religion, James’s influence endures. His Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the classic work in the field, and is worth reading by anyone who is interested in psychology and religion. Indeed, references to James’s ideas are common at professional conferences. It reminds me of the saying, “to learn a new idea, read an old book.”

James distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion. Institutional religion refers to the religious group or organization, and plays an important part in a society’s culture. Personal religion, in which the individual has a mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture. James was most interested in understanding personal religious experience.

If personal religious experiences were what James preferred, dogmatism was something that he disliked. Dogmatic thought, whether religious or scientific, was anathema to James. The importance of James to the psychology of religion–and to psychology more generally–is difficult to overstate. He discussed many essential issues that remain of vital concern today.

…..

######################################

Further information on William James available at ….

http://www.theology.ie/thinkers/james.htm

http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/james.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Text of “The Varieties of Religious Experience” available at

http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/james/toc.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/WJAMES/cover.html

http://www.bygosh.com/VRE/TOC.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Commentary & Critique at

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0003/articles/james.html

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~mcneil/lec/jamesw2.txt

http://www.well.com/user/elliotts/smse_james.html

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~mcneil/lec/jamesw.txt