From the History of Russian Religious Studies: The Origins of the Scientific Psychology of Religion in Russia (Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries)

Abstract

This paper treats the psychological direction of the study of religion in Russia in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Psychological approaches to investigating religiosity in Russia in this period can be divided into two main areas: the philosophical-psychological (N.I. Grot, G.I. Chelpanov, L.M. Lopatin, etc.) and the scientific (V.M. Bekhterev, AA. Tokarsky, V.F. Chizh, A.F. Lazursky, A.I. Jarockij, etc.). Philosophical-psychological researchers engaged in general theoretical questions of the psychology of religion and were influenced by the works of Wundt and James; they debated the psychological interpretation of soul, criticized the positions of physiological monism and parallelism, and developed an evidentiary basis for the spiritualist hypothesis of the soul. Scientific researchers used a methodology proposed in experimental psychology in their study of religious phenomena, and focused not so much on general issues of religion and psychology, as on more specific phenomena; Wundt, James and other Western scholars also significantly influenced their works. It was quite difficult to research religion in Russia of the 19th to 20th centuries, and scientific psychology was more interested in psychological questions than in religion. Nevertheless, Russian scientific psychology of the period did achieve considerable success and recognition. The overall high level of psychological research in Russia led to the advancement of a Russian psychology of religion, and thus the psycho- logical orientation of the Russian study of religion was ahead of its time in a number of respects.