Beyond Belief and Unbelief
The word "belief" and its derivatives, although still widely thought to characterize the essential religious attitude, have proved on closer examination to be surprisingly inapt. Belief, which centuries ago designated an attitude of affection for, trust in, and commitment to another person...
| Published in: | Research in the social scientific study of religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
1999
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Further subjects: | B
History of religion studies
B Social sciences B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The word "belief" and its derivatives, although still widely thought to characterize the essential religious attitude, have proved on closer examination to be surprisingly inapt. Belief, which centuries ago designated an attitude of affection for, trust in, and commitment to another person, has become today our way of referring to the theoretical judgments that others make regarding propositions that we consider improbable or false. Belief as it is now understood has two essential components: a vague and shifting object, and an attitude toward this object. Whereas the contemporary understanding of belief suggests that only two attitudes are possible—affirmation of the object’s existence or denial of it—a third possibility, closer to belief’s original meaning, is suggested by Winnicott: an intermediate position of complex cognitive and emotional attitudes that include imaginative participation in, solemn appreciation for, or deep engagement with the religious object. The simple belief-disbelief dichotomy is a tenacious one, however, especially because declaring a belief in certain doctrines is for many people a pledge of allegiance to some religious community. Clarifying the possible alternative attitudes that can be taken toward religious content would be one of the greatest services that psychologists of religion could render today. But given the highly individual character of religious faith that this broader perspective implies, and the radically idiographic research methods that would then be required, social scientists are not soon likely to follow the examples of Rizzuto and Jung as they explore the ways in which people relate to internal images. Ordinary religious persons are also unlikely to abandon the term belief, for they cannot easily outgrow the dualistic thinking that is fostered by the rhetoric of belief and embrace instead a relativistic standpoint, which research has found to be associated with positive social attitudes and mental health. In the face of such evidence of the potential value of revising our thinking, we would be well advised to stop using the words believe and belief in scholarly discourse and consider, then, what lies beyond them. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004496224_004 |