Fits, trances, visions, speaking in tongues, clairvoyance,
out-of-body experiences, possession. Believers have long viewed
these and similar involuntary experiences as religious--as
manifestations of God, the spirits, or the Christ within. Skeptics,
on the other hand, have understood them as symptoms of physical
disease, mental disorder, group dynamics, or other natural causes.
In this sweeping work of religious and psychological history, Ann
Taves explores the myriad ways in which believers and detractors
interpreted these complex experiences in Anglo-American culture
between the mid-eighteenth and early-twentieth centuries.
Taves divides the book into three sections. In the first,
ranging from 1740 to 1820, she examines the debate over trances,
visions, and other involuntary experiences against the politically
charged backdrop of Anglo-American evangelicalism, established
churches, Enlightenment thought, and a legacy of religious warfare.
In the second part, covering 1820 to 1890, she highlights the
interplay between popular psychology--particularly the ideas of
"animal magnetism" and mesmerism--and movements in popular
religion: the disestablishment of churches, the decline of
Calvinist orthodoxy, the expansion of Methodism, and the birth of
new religious movements. In the third section, Taves traces the
emergence of professional psychology between 1890 and 1910 and
explores the implications of new ideas about the subconscious mind,
hypnosis, hysteria, and dissociation for the understanding of
religious experience.
Throughout, Taves follows evolving debates about whether fits,
trances, and visions are natural (and therefore not religious) or
supernatural (and therefore religious). She pays particular
attention to a third interpretation, proposed by such "mediators"
as William James, according to which these experiences are natural
"and" religious. Taves shows that ordinary people as well as
educated elites debated the meaning of these experiences and
reveals the importance of interactions between popular and elite
culture in accounting for how people experienced religion and
explained experience.
Combining rich detail with clear and rigorous argument, this is
a major contribution to our understanding of Protestant revivalism
and the historical interplay between religion and psychology.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
