1. An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion and Coping
I. A Perspective on Religion
2. The Sacred and the Search for Significance
3. Religious Pathways and Religious Destinations
II. A Perspective on Coping
4. An Introduction to the Concept of Coping
5. The Flow of Coping
III. The Religion and Coping Connection
6. When People Turn to Religion: When They Turn Away
7. The Many Faces of Religion in Coping
8. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping: The Conservation of
Significance
9. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping: The Transformation of
Significance
IV. Evaluative and Practical Implications
10. Does It Work? Religion and the Outcomes of Coping
11. When Religion Fails: Problems of Integration in the Process of
Coping
12. Putting Religion into Practice
Kenneth I. Pargament, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Bowling Green State University, where he is also Director of Clinical Training of the clinical psychology PhD program. He is coeditor of Forgiveness: Theory, Research, and Practice (with Michael E. McCullough and Carl E. Thoresen).
The definitive work on religion and coping. Encyclopedic in its
breadth and depth, the book provides a clinically relevant
discussion of religion as a resource for mental health and an
analysis of the processes that encourage the conservation and
transformation of significance. Dr. Pargament describes the
psychology of coping from the complementary vantages of a scholar
and clinician. Of note is the sophisticated presentation of theory
and empirical data which leads to an appreciation of the role of
religion in sustaining meaning and hope in the face of adversity.
For the religion scholar, this book provides scientific support for
long held assumptions about an important function of faith. For
clinicians, this work opens the door for further inquiry into the
nature of psychological treatment concerning the provision of hope
and articulation of personal meaning. Rarely does one find a book
so equally comprehensive and accessible. Academicians and mental
health professionals alike will find this volume a
thought-provoking contribution to the field. --Edward P.
Shafranske, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Graduate School of
Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University and Faculty,
Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute; Past President and
Fellow of APA Division 36: Psychology of Religion and William Bier
Award recipient.
In this fascinating book, Kenneth Pargament links religion and
coping using an elegant and articulate conceptual framework. He
makes religious coping accessible to the theoretician, the
researcher, and the practitioner, and he provides many insights
about the multiple functions of religious coping, when it is used,
by whom, toward what ends, and with what consequences. The
Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, and Practice
is a book that the field of coping has needed for a very long time.
--Susan Folkman, Ph.D. Professor of Medicine, University of
California, San Francisco
Kenneth Pargament has achieved what is all too rare in the
psychology of religion: a systematic program of empirical research,
guided by theory, that is of practical relevance to helping
professionals. No longer is there any excuse for failing to
appreciate the subtle and complex ways in which religion and coping
interface in the areas of theory, research or practice. This is the
authoritative text defining the state of the art in the area of
religion and coping. --Ralph W. Hood Jr., Ph.D., Professor of
Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Editor of the
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Past President of
Division 36 of the APA
Pargament is a psychologist who writes about religion as a fellow
traveler, but a traveler who is also a scientist. We who are clergy
know what we do in our ministry and we know its effectiveness. But
why is ministry effective? This book helps us with that--it is
effective because we help persons cope with life and to find
significance in relation to all that is sacred. Have we as clergy
ever wondered what psychologists have discovered about religion and
how it helps? Here is a way to find out. This work contains a
massive amount of information--over 875 references and 260 studies
cited in five appendices. It presents a coherent way of thinking
about ministry--and, in fact, how to improve it. --Larry
VandeCreek, D.Min., Assistant Director, Department of Pastoral
Care, The Ohio State University Medical Center
The Psychology of Religion and Coping will provide students with a
solid foundation and understanding of religion in the coping
process. It is a superbly done work that should be required reading
for every student in psychology, the ministry, and related
professions. It fills a deep gap in the psychological literature,
which for years has neglected perhaps the most important and common
way that people cope with stress. --Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc
...a terrific book, especially for anyone who lives as closely to
their own and other' search for meaning in stressful life
experiences as chaplains do....I found it remarkably readable and
thought-provoking throughout....One of the many strong points of
the book for us is the author's liberal use of incisive and moving
stories....it belongs in the hands of every professional chaplain.
--Chaplain Margot Hover, Horizons, Newsletter of the National
Association of Catholic Chaplains
...a thorough treatment of research in the psychology of religion
and coping. His integrative approach and coverage works toward
creating a bridge between what are often contradictory
perspectives....Pargament's compilation, with its excellent
research findings, appendix material, and notes, could easily be
used to support courses in psychology and religion. Upper-division
undergraduates through professionals. --J. Dodd, Choice
This is one of the most comprehensive texts in the field. Second to
none. --Marcus G. Smucker, Eastern Mennonitie Seminary
University
- This volume may be the best book on the psychology of religion in
a generation or more. Well written and clearly outlined, it is
grounded on an immense foundation of empirical data. --Bulletin of
the Menninger Clinic, 2/17/2001ƒƒ This thoroughly researched and
well-written work should be on the reading list of every
psychotherapist and counselor....Pargament is able in his
concluding chapters to present very grounded and useful advice for
how religious beliefs and experience could be better utilized in
counseling situations, not only as immediate coping devices for
current problems, but also as spurs to further psychological and
emotional growth. --Journal of Religion and Health, 2/17/2001ƒƒ A
terrific book, especially for anyone who lives as closely to their
own and others' search for meaning in stressful life experiences as
chaplains do....Belongs in the hands of every professional
chaplain. --Horizons: Newsletter of the National Association of
Catholic Chaplains, 2/17/2001ƒƒ A massive, scholarly, even-handed,
level-headed book....It sets a new standard of excellence for works
on religion and psychology. --American Journal of Psychiatry,
2/17/2001
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