RELIGIOUS JUDGEMENT: A Developmental Approach

Summary: This truly landmark volume in developmental psychology is a highly illuminating and truly breakthrough look at the nature and structure of religious thinking. It offers a rich account of how persons interpret their personal experiences both of self and the world in the light of an Ultimacy (God). The book then goes on to show the ways in which these personal interpretations pass through a series of cognitive transformations.

Spirit of the Book: The spirit of this book is the exploration of how persons think religiously and how they interpret reality from a religious perspective. Essential to the basic spirit of the book is the location of a previously unknown religious cognitive mother structure which is independent of other ways of thinking. The consequences of this epic discovery for the study and practice of religion are enormous.

What this Book Gives You:. A landmark book because for the first time it gives psychologists, theologians, philosophers, and religious educators solid evidence that religious thinking is a separate sphere of knowing and therefore can be addressed directly rather than through another cognitive process. This book also gives English-speaking readers a knowledge of the crucially seminal work of Fritz Oser. There are two leading contemporary schools of thought about the cognitive-psychological basis of religion: the American school associated with James Fowler, and the European school of Fritz Oser. This book is Oser's magnum opus.

Distinctiveness: Why this Book is Special: This book is very special because for the first time in the history of psychology or theology it proves the existence of a distinct domain of religious cognitive deep-structure, a sphere of knowing which is distinctly religious. Though related to moral cognition, this intellectual "religious mother structure" is independent of moral knowledge and other forms of intellection.

Major Features: Major features of this book include: (1) the development of stages of faith which are different from but complementary to those devised by James Fowler and Bailey Gillespie; (2) an in-depth and very different exploration of how persons relate their personal experiences to an Ultimate (God); (3) an superb examination of religious reasoning; (4) proof of a separate sphere of religious knowing independent of other spheres of knowledge including moral cognition

Chapters
1. On the Development of the Religious Personality
2. The Structure of Religious Reasoning as Mother-Structure
3. Stages of Religious Judgement
4. Measuring Religious Judgement
5. On the Range of Structures of Religious Cognition
6. Educational Implications and Applications of the Theory of Religious Judgement
7. Validation of the Stage-Concept of Religious Judgement

Praise for this Book: Because it is a major breakthrough and pioneer book, there has been much praise for this volume:

JAMES FOWLER of Emory University and author of STAGES OF FAITH writes: "Oser's research on establishing universal operational patterns of religious reasoning can contribute significantly to ministry."

GIL G. NOAM OF Harvard Medical School and author of DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES TO THE SELF says: "Oser's theory is creative, the interview method sound, and the evidence convincing. This book is a must for anyone working in the interface of psychology and religion."

DON S. BROWNING of the University of Chicago Divinity School and author of A FUNDAMENTAL PRACTICAL THEOLOGY states: "This book carries the developmental perspective on religion to a new level. It is a very important book."

A review in BRITISH JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION says that "this book is the long-awaited English translation of the seminal German text in which Oser outlines in detail his six-stage developmental theory. This volume allows readers to explore the riches of Oser's approach to the endlessly fascinating human journey of faith."

A review in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION states: "This book is of direct importance to the study of religious development. An excellent trend in the psychology of religion."

Price and Such:
235 pages List Price: $25.95 ISBN 0-89135-081-0

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