The Psychology of Religious Experience

1910. Ames, who was the Professor of Philosophy in the University of Chicago writes that this work undertakes an investigation of the religious aspect of normal human experience. The point of view employed is that of functional psychology, which is necessarily genetic and social. The method adopted involves the use of much material from anthropology, the history of religion, and other social sciences, but an attempt has been made to organize this material and interpret it from the psychological standpoint. The hypothesis that religion is the consciousness of the highest social values arose from studies in these fields, and this conception has been strengthened by further investigations. These highest social values appear to embody more or less idealized expressions of the most elemental and urgent life impulses. Religion expresses the desire to obtain life and obtain it abundantly. In all stages the demand is for daily bread and for companionship and achievement in family and community relationships. Ames divides the Contents into four parts including: History and Method of the Psychology of Religion; The Origin of Religion in the Race; The Race of Religion in the Individual; and The Place of Religion in the Experience of the Individual and Society. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.