James Henry Leuba (April 9, 1868 – December 8, 1946) was an American
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
best known for his contributions to the
psychology of religion
Psychology of religion consists of the application of List of psychological research methods, psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of Religion, religious traditions as well as to both religious and Irreligion, ...
. His son
Clarence James Leuba was also a
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
and taught at
Antioch College in
Yellow Springs, Ohio.
[McBride, Katharine E. (1947). ''James Henry Leuba: 1867-1946''. '' American Journal of Psychology'' 60 (4): 645-646.]
Career
Leuba was born in
Neuchâtel
, neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier
, twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...
Switzerland, and later moved to America. He took his Ph.D. at
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...
under
G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1846 – April 24, 1924) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psy ...
.
His work was marked by a tendency to explain
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
and other religious experiences in psychological terms. Philosophically, his position may be described as
naturalism. His work points to similarities between religious mysticism and yoga or drug-induced mysticism; he does accept differences between these in terms of moral motivation and to what uses mysticism is put. His psychological study of religion aroused opposition from churchmen.
He argued for a naturalistic treatment of religion, which he considered to be necessary if religious psychology was to be looked at scientifically. He was an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
.
[Martin, Michael. (2007). ''The Cambridge Companion to Atheism''. Cambridge University Press. p. 310. . "Among celebrity atheists with much biographical data, we find leading psychologists and psychoanalysts. We could provide a long list, including...James Leuba..."]
Bibliography
* Leuba, J. H. (1909). ''
The Psychological Origin and the Nature of Religion
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
''.
* Leuba, J. H. (1912)
''The Psychological Study of Religion: Its Origin, Function, and Future'' New York: Macmillan.
* Leuba, J. H. (1916)
''The Belief in God and Immortality'' Boston: Sherman, French.
* Leuba, J. H. (1925)
''The Psychology of Religious Mysticism'' New York: Harcourt, Brace. (1925 UK edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner).
* Leuba, J. H. (1933). ''God or Man? A Study of the Value of God to Man''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. (1934 UK edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner).
See also
*
Psychology of religion
Psychology of religion consists of the application of List of psychological research methods, psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of Religion, religious traditions as well as to both religious and Irreligion, ...
References
External links
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1867 births
1946 deaths
American atheists
20th-century American psychologists
American skeptics
Mysticism scholars
Psychologists of religion
{{US-psychologist-stub