Within the depth-psychology corpus, ‘religious’ functions as a contested yet indispensable modifier that resists reduction to a single domain. The literature ranges from William James’s pragmatic insistence that religious life be judged by its fruits rather than its origins — including its psychopathological wellsprings — to Kenneth Pargament’s systematic effort to define religion through its orientation toward the sacred as both substantive content and functional mechanism. A persistent tension runs through the field between institutional religion (dogma, ritual, community) and the more privatized spiritual impulse, with scholars such as Allport distinguishing intrinsic from extrinsic religious orientations and Batson recasting these as ‘religion as end’ versus ‘religion as means.’ Pargament’s coping research demonstrates that religious pathways — prayer, purification, reframing, community support, conversion — possess measurable and statistically unique effects on adjustment outcomes across diverse stressors, neither uniformly salutary nor uniformly harmful. Glaz’s psychometric work extends the tradition by operationalizing the intensity of religious experience in relation to felt divine presence and absence. Across all positions, the corpus insists that ‘religious’ designates not a fixed attitude but a dynamic orienting system through which persons search for significance, negotiate ultimate concerns, and construct meaning under conditions of threat and loss.
the extrinsically motivated person uses his religion, whereas the intrinsically motivated lives his religion
This passage articulates Allport’s foundational distinction between religion as instrumental means and religion as internalized end, which Pargament identifies as the most heavily used framework in the psychological study of religion.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001thesis
According to one perspective, the sacred is what makes religion distinctive. Religion is uniquely concerned with God, deities, supernatural beings, transcendent forces
Pargament sets out the two canonical definitional approaches to religion — the substantive (defined by the sacred) and the functional (defined by its role in addressing ultimate concerns) — as the framework for systematic psychological study.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001thesis
Developing, maintaining, and fostering the relationship of the individual to the sacred is the essence of religious life.
Pargament argues that the sacred is the irreducible center of religious life, regardless of the diverse symbols, traditions, and communities through which different religions approach it.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001thesis
The term ‘religion’ is being used by scholars in an increasingly narrow sense; its meaning is restricted to institutionally based dogma, rituals, and traditions. In contrast, the term ‘spiritual’ is reserved for an inner, more personal process.
Pargament identifies a disciplinary shift in which ‘religious’ becomes narrowed to institutional forms while ‘spiritual’ absorbs the language of authentic inner experience, a bifurcation he regards as distorting.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001thesis
you must all be ready now to judge the religious life by its results exclusively, and I shall assume that the bugaboo of morbid origin will scandalize your piety no more.
James establishes his pragmatic criterion for evaluating religious phenomena: their significance lies in their consequences for life, not in the psychological or pathological conditions of their genesis.
, The Varieties of Religious Experience Amazon, 1902thesis
in the psychopathic temperament we have the emotionality which is the sine quâ non of moral perception… and we have the love of metaphysics and mysticism which carry one’s interests beyond the surface of the sensible world.
James argues that psychopathic temperament, far from disqualifying religious experience, may uniquely predispose individuals to genuine religious truth by enabling perception beyond ordinary sensory experience.
, The Varieties of Religious Experience Amazon, 1902supporting
Religion is certainly a way of the heart, but the heart is simply one of the ways of religion.
Pargament counters reductive emotionalist accounts of religion by insisting that feeling is one pathway among several — alongside thinking, acting, and relating — through which religious life is expressed.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
religious paths vary in their importance and embeddedness in peoples’ lives. Religion can become an overarching way of life, one that connects the sacred to the daily episodes of living
Pargament argues that religious involvement exists on a continuum from peripheral to thoroughly integrated, shaping the degree to which it functions as an orienting system across the lifespan.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
in this sense the daily life of the Jew can be religious in nature. Neither is this process unique to Judaism. Within other religions, it is not at all unusual to find ordinary day-to-day experiences infused with a sense of
Pargament demonstrates that the religious and the mundane are not cleanly separable, as ordinary activities acquire sacred character through their integration into covenantal or devotional frameworks.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
the world’s religions have marked off the most critical junctions of the lifespan, setting them apart from ordinary times and wrapping them in religious garb.
Pargament argues that religion is not merely reactive to crisis but actively constructs and frames life’s critical transitions, investing them with sacred meaning before crises arise.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
the overall tally in Table 10.2 reveals significant relationships between religious coping and outcomes in 53% of the cases. This figure is larger than the 39% significance rate reported between the measures of religious orientation and outcomes.
Pargament’s meta-analytic summary shows that active religious coping methods predict adjustment outcomes more reliably than stable religious orientations, supporting a process-focused model of religious functioning.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
Any of the very human experiences of the world, from romantic relationships and hero worship to political affiliations and identification with a sports team can also be ‘sacralized,’—that is, invested with a spiritual, even supernatural, aura
Pargament extends the category of the religious by showing that sacralization — the attribution of divine quality — can attach to secular objects, broadening the scope of what may function as religiously significant.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
the subjective feeling whether one experiences God’s presence and God’s absence, and how such beliefs affect certain aspects of a person’s life
Glaz operationalizes religious experience in terms of the felt intensity of divine presence and absence, translating the phenomenological core of religious life into a psychometrically measurable construct.
, Psychological Analysis of Religious Experience: The Construction of the Intensity of Religious Experience Scale (IRES), 2020supporting
religious orientations are, in fact, multidimensional. They are, in part, m[otivational]
Pargament argues that religious orientation cannot be reduced to a single personality variable or attitude but constitutes a multidimensional construct encompassing motivational, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
The seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church offer a way to connect the person to the spiritual realm throughout the lifespan. Each sacrament serves a specific end tailored to the evolving needs of the individual.
Pargament illustrates how structured religious systems provide purposeful mechanisms — sacraments, pastoral counseling, community — that systematically address the individual’s search for significance across developmental stages.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
religions do more than define transgressions; they provide coping mechanisms for reorientation, a return to the right way. Through rituals of purification, the sin, evil, or uncleanliness associated with religious violations are removed
Pargament shows that religious systems are not merely prescriptive but offer structured pathways of restoration, linking the transgression-and-purification cycle directly to coping theory.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
26% of the sample felt religion both helped and hurt, suggesting that the positive and negative effects of religious life may not be exclusive of each other.
Empirical data reveal that the beneficial and harmful dimensions of religious coping are not mutually exclusive, requiring methodologies that move beyond binary assessments of religion’s efficacy.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
‘There has been so much loss that I’m holding on tighter than ever to my faith, my rituals, my God. For me, if I lose my faith, I lose everything.’
Survivor testimony from the Oklahoma City bombing illustrates the function of religious faith as a primary anchor of significance under conditions of catastrophic loss.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
Religion means different things to different people.
Pargament’s empirical lens-model research establishes that ‘religious’ is a socially negotiated, multidimensional construct whose meaning varies systematically across individuals and communities.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
The Spiritually Based factor emphasizes the individual’s relationship with God in coping. Through this relationship, problems are reframed positively, the limits of personal control are accepted, and guidance and reassurance are sought.
Factor-analytic findings identify spiritually-based religious coping — centered on the divine relationship — as a distinct and central mechanism through which religion functions in the management of adversity.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
Religious orientation… defined, 59… evaluation of, 67–68… extrinsic versus intrinsic, 61–62… means and ends analysis of, 63
This index entry maps the conceptual architecture of Pargament’s treatment of religious orientation, signaling its central structural role in the volume’s taxonomy of religious coping.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001aside
Religious conversion… definition of… life transformation as goal of… outcomes of… as religious coping, in counseling context
The index entry for religious conversion situates it as a subspecies of religious coping, linking self-transformation to the broader framework of significance conservation and re-creation.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001aside