Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 God and the Self
- 2 On the Self and the Divided Self
- 3 Mechanisms and Dynamics of Decentering
- 4 Neurology of the Self
- 5 Neurology of Religious Experiences
- 6 Neurochemistry of Religiosity
- 7 Self-Transformation as a Key Function of Performance of Religious Practices
- 8 Self-Transformation through Spirit Possession
- 9 God Concepts
- 10 Religious Language
- 11 Ritual
- 12 Life-Span Development of Religiosity and the Self
- 13 The Evolution of Self and Religion
- References
- Index
12 - Life-Span Development of Religiosity and the Self
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 God and the Self
- 2 On the Self and the Divided Self
- 3 Mechanisms and Dynamics of Decentering
- 4 Neurology of the Self
- 5 Neurology of Religious Experiences
- 6 Neurochemistry of Religiosity
- 7 Self-Transformation as a Key Function of Performance of Religious Practices
- 8 Self-Transformation through Spirit Possession
- 9 God Concepts
- 10 Religious Language
- 11 Ritual
- 12 Life-Span Development of Religiosity and the Self
- 13 The Evolution of Self and Religion
- References
- Index
Summary
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
– St. Paul, 1 Cor. 13:11; King James VersionIntroduction
We know quite a bit about the development of the Self and quite a bit about the development of religiosity, but we know very little about the development of religiosity in relation to the Self. Although there are many studies of religiousness and spirituality in children (e.g., Allport, 1950; Elkind, 1970; Goldman, 1964; Hyde, 1990; Rosengren, Johnson, & Harris, 2000; Tamminen, 1991) and several descriptive “stage models” (e.g., Fowler, 1991; Oser & Reich, 1990a, 1990b) about the development of aspects of religiosity such as “faith development” and “religious judgment,” there are no systematic research data available, as far as I know, about the impact of the development of religiousness on the development of the Self. A few psychoanalytically oriented scholars (Coles, 1990; Rizzuto, 1991) have discussed the relationship of the development of God concepts to the development of a mature sense of Self, and these (along with the aforementioned studies on religious stages and cognition in children) have made it clear that religion and Self are tightly bound together in development.
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- Information
- The Neuroscience of Religious Experience , pp. 229 - 245Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009