Psychology and Spiritual Transformation in a Substance Abuse Program: The Lazarus Project presents the results of an independent five-year study on spiritual transformation at a twelve-month residential program called the Lazarus Project—an agency that takes a Pentecostal faith-based approach to dealing with substance abuse. Residents who completed the program experienced psychological and spiritual transformation within six months in the program. Furthermore, this change was found to persist one year after graduation from the program. Resident descriptions derived from phenomenological interviews revealed that this transformation was experienced in relation to religious and spiritual experiences while in the program, and that Pentecostal factors were significant facilitators of change and recovery from substance addiction. Psychology and Spiritual Transformation in a Substance Abuse Program concludes that Pentecostal faith-based approaches to dealing with substance addiction may be more effective than secular and even non-Pentecostal faith-based approaches. The unique and exhilarating Pentecostal experience, as an alternative to a drug-induced high leading to meaningless addiction and self-destruction, is contextualized within a religious and spiritual ontology that offers purpose and meaning to victims of substance addiction.

Psychology and Spiritual Transformation in a Substance Abuse Program: The Lazarus Project

Hood Jr., Ralph W.

Williamson, W. Paul

Religion & Spirituality

Lexington Books

What does it mean to live out the theology presented in the Great Commandment to “love God above all and to love your neighbor as yourself”? In Blood and Fire, Poloma and Hood explore how understandings of godly love function to empower believers. Though godly love may begin as a perceived relationship between God and a person, it is made manifest as social behavior among people.
Blood and Fire offers a deep ethnographic portrait of a charismatic church and its faith-based ministry, illuminating how religiously motivated social service makes use of beliefs about the nature of God's love. It traces the triumphs and travails associated with living a set of rigorous religious ideals, providing a richly textured analysis of a faith community affiliated with the “emerging church” movement in Pentecostalism, one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic religious movements of our day.
Based on more than four years of interviews and surveys with people from all levels of the organization, from the leader to core and marginal members to the poor and addicts they are seeking to serve, Blood and Fire sheds light on the differing worldviews and religious perceptions between those who served in as well as those who were served by this ministry.
Blood and Fire argues that godly love— the relationship between perceived divine love and human response— is at the heart of the vision of emerging churches, and that it is essential to understand this dynamic if one is to understand the ongoing reinvention of American Protestantism in the twenty-first century.

Blood and Fire: Godly Love in a Pentecostal Emerging Church

History

Poloma, Margaret M.

World

NYU Press

Keeping up with the rapidly growing research base, the leading graduate-level psychology of religion text is now in a fully updated fifth edition. It takes a balanced, empirically driven approach to understanding the role of religion in individual functioning and social behavior. Integrating research on numerous different faith traditions, the book addresses the quest for meaning; links between religion and biology; religious thought, belief, and behavior across the lifespan; experiential dimensions of religion and spirituality; the social psychology of religious organizations; and connections to coping, adjustment, and mental disorder. Chapter-opening quotations and topical research boxes enhance the readability of this highly instructive text. New to This Edition *New topics: cognitive science of religion; religion and violence; and groups that advocate terrorist tactics. *The latest empirical findings, including hundreds of new references. *Expanded discussion of atheism and varieties of nonbelief. *More research on religions outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, particularly Islam. *State-of-the-art research methods, including techniques for assessing neurological states.

The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Hill, Peter C.

Spilka, Bernard

Mental Health

The Guilford Press

Now in a fully revised and expanded third edition, this landmark text provides comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of an increasingly rich and varied field. The authors synthesize classic and contemporary research on religious thought, belief, and behavior across the lifespan; the forms and meaning of religious experience; the social psychology of religious organizations; and connections to biology, morality, coping, and mental health. As in previous editions, the focus is on scientific work that is moving the psychology of religion into the mainstream of academic psychology, rather than broad interpretative and conceptual discussions. Organized for optimal use in advanced undergraduate- or graduate-level courses, every chapter features thought-provoking quotations, sidebars, and examples that bring key concepts to life. New in the Third Edition *Restructured and expanded to accommodate the rapidly growing literature *Fully updated with the latest findings and interpretations *New chapter on religion and biology *New chapter on empirical foundations *Coverage of such timely topics as religious extremism and clerical child abuse

The Psychology of Religion, Third Edition: An Empirical Approach

Hunsberger DECEASED, Bruce

Gorsuch, Richard

This book presents a new psychological framework for understanding religious fundamentalism, one that distinguishes fundamentalist traditions from other faith-based groups and helps explain the thinking and behavior of believers. Steering clear of stereotypes, the highly regarded authors offer respectful, historically informed examinations of several major fundamentalist groups. Focusing primarily on Protestant sects, including the Church of God (a Pentecostal denomination), the serpent handling sects of Appalachia, and the Amish, the book also discusses Islamic fundamentalism. Addressed are such key themes as the role of the sacred text within fundamentalism; how beliefs and practices that many find difficult to comprehend actually fit into coherent meaning systems; and how these meaning systems help meet individuals' needs for purpose, value, and self-worth.

The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism

Scholarly and comprehensive yet accessible, this state-of-the-science work is widely regarded as the definitive graduate-level psychology of religion text. The authors synthesize classic and contemporary empirical research on numerous different religious groups. Coverage includes religious thought, belief, and behavior across the lifespan; links between religion and biology; the forms and meaning of religious experience; the social psychology of religious organizations; and connections to morality, coping, mental health, and psychopathology. Every chapter features thought-provoking quotations and examples that bring key concepts to life.
New to This Edition*Revised and updated with the latest theories, methods, and empirical findings.*Many new research examples.*Restructured with fewer chapters for better “fit” with a typical semester.*More attention to the differences between religion and spirituality*Covers emerging topics: genetics and neurobiology, positive psychology, atheism, and more.

The Psychology of Religion, Fourth Edition: An Empirical Approach

Wine has always been a part of popular medicine. Bacchic Medicine analyses the historical role of wine in the treatment of disease and preservation of health. 
The Hippocratic texts gave wine therapy a canonical statement over two millennia ago; but the nineteenth century was the golden age of alcohol and wine therapy. The Germans and the British gave us early canons of wine therapy and, heavily endowed with wine cultural capital, the French followed. But like all therapies, alcohol and wine therapies were not without danger and some of the ‘iatrogenic' tales are still with us. 
In the twentieth century, many doctors rallied to the defence of wine both as a substitute for more dangerous alcoholic drinks and as an efficacious medicament, with an impressive case for the efficacy of wine in fighting bacteria, heart disease and cancer. New science based on animal models and ionic theory fortified their arguments. According to the controversial ‘French Paradox', wine drinking makes it possible for a population to enjoy a high fat diet yet suffer little. Bacchic Medicine also discusses the contemporary debate over the role of alcohol and wine in preventive medicine.

Dimensions of Mystical Experience: Empirical Studies and Psychological Links (International Series in the Psychology of Religion 11)

Brill/Rodopi

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