Great Names in Psychology of Religion

There were many great names and many great books in psychology of religion published before the world war I. Some of those are W.R. Inge's 'Christian Mysticism' (1899), F. Von Hugel's 'The Mystical Element of Religion' (1908), Evelyn Underhill's 'Mysticism' (1911) and 'The Mystic way' (1913).

J.B. Pratt's 'The religious consciousness' in 1920 was one of the most important handbook among those similar works between the wars.It evaluated and summed up the developments of the first quarter of the century.

The year 1913 turned out to be a year of great importance in the history of Psychology of Religion. The depth psychology especially of Freud and Jung had great impact on Psychology of Religion.

Freud tried to bring out connections between primitive religious practices and neurotic types. In 1913 he published his work 'Totem and Taboo'. This work had a very different approach to the discipline Psychology of Religion. Freud's Psychoanalysis tried to interpret dreams which was assumed to be a means of access to the subconscious. Freud continued to apply his theory of Psychoanalysis on religion which came out clearly in his work 'Moses and Monotheism' (1939). Though Freud's contribution proved valuable in Psychology of Religion he failed to see that his categories can be applied to anti religious with the same probability as to religious attitudes.