Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

Chapter 1:
Emotions and Spirituality in the Religions of the World

Chapter 2:
The Divine, the Self, Soul, Emotions, Consciousness, and the Spiritual Journey in Religions, Spiritual Movements, the Social Sciences, and the Neurosciences

Chapter 3:
Spiritual Experiences, Spiritual Disciplines, Emotions, and the Sciences

Chapter 4:
Emotions, Symbols, Sacred Writings, Prayer, Rituals, Spiritual Disciplines, and Spiritual Experiences

Chapter 5:
Positive and Negative Emotions, Free Will, Conversions, Conscience, Ethics, and Social Activism in Religions and Spiritual Movements

Chapter 6:
Negative Emotions, Evil, Suffering, Prejudice, Violence, War, and Peace in Religions and Spiritual Movements

Chapter 7:
Emotions and Spirituality in Primal Religions

Chapter 8:
Emotions and Spirituality in Eastern Religions

Chapter 9:
Emotions and Spirituality in Western Religions

Chapter 10:
Emotions and Emotional Issues in Religions and Spiritual Movements—Some Conclusions

Bibliography

About the Author

Erika Wilson was born in Germany and emigrated to the US. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1971 and her second Ph.D. in comparative religious studies from the University of Southern California in 1979. She has taught in the California State University System since 1963, and, for the past nine years, at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Among other publications, she is the author of Religion in All Dimensions, 3d ed. (1998) and Healing and Well-Being in the Religions of the World (1996).

Reviews

Erika Wilson’s text is an important contribution to an understanding of the psychology of religion. It offers remarkable insights into the role and valuation of feeling in a number of religions and spiritual movements. . . . This work is highly recommended for both students and professionals in psychology and religious studies as well as for the general reader.
*Robert S. Ellwood, (University of Southern California)*

. . . Erika Wilson takes us on an original trip through spiritual experiences [and] the religions’ respective valuation of particular positive emotions . . . [and] negative emotions. Perhaps newest of all in a book on religion is her inclusion of the discoveries of cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists on religious experiential phenomena.
*John P. Crossley, Ph.D., emeritus professor of religion, University of Southern California*

In [this book], Erika Wilson displays her commanding grasp of, on the one hand, the latest developments in psychology of religion and neuropsychology, and, on the other, of the emotions people experience in . . . spiritual practices across cultures. . . . It is a magnum opus and a wonderfully helpful gift to the study of religion and human experience.
*Franz Metcalf, Ph.D., author and lecturer of religious studies, California State University, Los Angeles*