The psychology of religion : an empirical study of the growth of religious consciousness / by Edwin Diller Starbuck ; with a preface by William James.

  • Edwin Diller Starbuck
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The psychology of religion : an empirical study of the growth of religious consciousness / by Edwin Diller Starbuck ; with a preface by William James. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    where clear paths fail, until we are able to say of the religious sense, as of every other field we try to explore, we understand it, because there are bits of it which satisfy the demands of our intelligence sufficiently to give the feel of knowledge by producing steadfastness in our emotio7ial attitudes, I say I understand the con- stitution of water, because I know it is composed of hydrogen and oxygen in certain proportions, and be- cause I know how it acts and how it is acted upon in its manifold relationships. But if I stop to question it, I know nothing of hydrogen and oxygen, nor of any one of the numerous properties of water, and in its ultimate analysis the fact of the existence of water is as great a mystery as that a soul should be turned from death unto life. The end of our study is not to resolve the mystery of religion, but to bring enough of it into orderliness that its facts may appeal to our under- standing. The Method.—The question arises. In what way is it possible to produce order in a field of consciousness as complex and organic as that of religion ? Is it pos- sible to analyse and organise the data so that the results may have some degree of scientific exactness, and, accordingly, furnish some solid ground on which to build ? The method will necessarily be determined by the problem in hand and the character of the data used. The present volume is an excursus into individual psychology, and represents only one of several aspects of the psychology of religion now being pursued. It is a purely empirical study into the Line of Growth in Re- ligion in individuals, and an inquiry into the causes and conditions which determine it. It begins with conver- sion, since that seems to show in a condensed form some of the essential features of religious development. Then follows a discussion of the line of growth follow- ing conversion. Part II. is a presentation of the line of growth where not marked by apparently sudden changes of character. The material for the study con-
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