Robert C. Fuller (born 1952) is the Caterpillar Professor of Religious Studies at Bradley University. [1] [2] Specializing in religion and psychology, and contemporary religion in America, Fuller is the author of 13 books, including Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls (1982); Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America (2001); and The Body of Faith: A Biological History of Religion in America (2013). [3] [4]
After completing his BA in religious studies at Denison University (a former Baptist school), Fuller was awarded his MA and PhD, also in religious studies, by the University of Chicago. [4] He joined the faculty at Bradley University in 1978 as assistant professor of religious studies. In 1983 he became an associate professor and in 1988 a full professor. [5]
Fuller is particularly interested in "unchurched" spirituality in America and metaphysical healing, including mesmerism and homeopathy. Despite declining church membership in America, most Americans believe in some form of higher spiritual power. [6] In Alternative Medicine and American Religious Life (1989), he explores whether the appeal of alternative medicine lies not in addressing ill health but in giving practitioners a sense of this spiritual plane. [7] He argues in Spiritual, but not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America (2001) that "[a]lternative medicines almost invariably promulgate alternative worldviews." Most of those drawn to such systems—New Thought, spirit guides, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, Transcendentalism [8] —are middle class and physically healthy. [9] In 2018 he wrote that 18–27 percent of Americans could be defined as "Spiritual but not Religious" (SBNR). [10]
In 1988 Bradley University awarded Fuller the Samuel Rothberg Professional Excellence Award, [11] for outstanding achievements in research and creativity. [12] He was awarded the Charles M. Putnam Award for Teaching Excellence in 1995 and the Caterpillar Professorship for Religious Studies in 2000. [11]
Fuller and his wife, Kathy Fuller, married in 1974 and have two children. [5] [13]
The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man", oriented at "the image of God" as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world. The term was used within early Christianity to refer to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit and broadened during the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life.
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the New England region of the United States. A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent in the everyday, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities.
Joseph Gelfer is a British author and academic. He is noted for his academic analysis of spiritual and religious topics and masculinity. His book 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse attracted considerable media attention.
Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks can be summarized regarding the classic distinction between the natural-scientific and human-scientific approaches. The first cluster amounts to objective, quantitative, and preferably experimental procedures for testing hypotheses for causal connections among the objects of one's study. In contrast, the human-scientific approach accesses the human world of experience using qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretive methods. The goal of this approach is to discern meaningful, rather than causal, connections among the phenomena one seeks to understand.
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva; Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook; The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology; Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts; and The Rig Veda: An Anthology, 108 Hymns Translated from the Sanskrit. She is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago, and has taught there since 1978. She served as president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1998.
The academic study of new religious movements is known as new religions studies (NRS). The study draws from the disciplines of anthropology, psychiatry, history, psychology, sociology, religious studies, and theology. Eileen Barker noted that there are five sources of information on new religious movements (NRMs): the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organizations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.
Secular spirituality is the adherence to a spiritual philosophy without adherence to a religion. Secular spirituality emphasizes the personal growth and inner peace of the individual, rather than a relationship with the divine. Secular spirituality is made up of the search for meaning outside of a religious institution; it considers one's relationship with the self, others, nature, and whatever else one considers to be the ultimate. Often, the goal of secular spirituality is living happily and/or helping others.
Christian Stephen Smith is an American sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents and emerging adults, sociological theory, philosophy of science, the science of generosity, American evangelicalism, and culture. Smith is well known for his contributions to the sociology of religion, particularly his research into adolescent spirituality, as well as for his contributions to sociological theory and his advocacy of critical realism.
Andrew Newberg is an American neuroscientist who is a professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences and the director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, previously an adjunct professor of religious studies and a lecturer in psychology in the Biological Basis of Behavior Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Pierre Arnold Bernard — known as "The Great Oom", "The Omnipotent Oom" and "Oom the Magnificent" — was a pioneering American yogi, scholar, occultist, philosopher, mystic and businessman.
Linda L. Barnes is an American medical anthropologist, a professor of family medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, and in the Graduate Division of Religious Studies at Boston University. Her research specialties are the social and cultural history of Western responses to Chinese healing traditions, and the interdisciplinary study of cultural, religious, and therapeutic pluralism in the United States. She has been regularly cited as an authority in the use of religiously based therapeutic traditions.
A nature religion is a religious movement that believes nature and the natural world is an embodiment of divinity, sacredness or spiritual power. Nature religions include indigenous religions practiced in various parts of the world by cultures who consider the environment to be imbued with spirits and other sacred entities. It also includes modern Pagan faiths, which are primarily concentrated in Europe and North America.
In the United States, between 8% and 15% of citizens polled in 2019 demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics. The number of self-identified atheists and agnostics was around 4% each, while many persons formally affiliated with a religion are likewise non-believing.
Harold G. Koenig is a psychiatrist on the faculty of Duke University. His ideas have been covered in Newsweek and other news media with regard to religion, spirituality and health, a focus of some of his research and clinical practice. Templeton Foundation has provided great financial support to his activities.
Elaine Howard Ecklund is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology in the Rice University Department of Sociology, director of the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance at Rice, and a Rice scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. She is also a faculty affiliate in the Rice Department of Religion. Ecklund received a B.S. in human development and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Cornell University. Her research focuses on institutional change in the areas of religion, immigration, science, medicine, and gender. She has authored numerous research articles, as well as five books with Oxford University Press, a book with New York University Press, and a book with Brazos Press. Her latest book is Varieties of Atheism in Science with author David R. Johnson.
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), or less commonly "more spiritual than religious" is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable means of furthering spiritual growth. Historically, the words religious and spiritual have been used synonymously to describe all the various aspects of the concept of religion, but in contemporary usage spirituality has often become associated with the interior life of the individual, placing an emphasis upon the well-being of the "mind-body-spirit", while religion refers to organizational or communal dimensions.
The history of New Thought started in the 1830s, with roots in the United States and England. As a spiritual movement with roots in metaphysical beliefs, New Thought has helped guide a variety of social changes throughout the 19th, 20th, and into the 21st centuries. Psychologist and philosopher William James labelled New Thought "the religion of healthy-mindedness" in his study on religion and science, The Varieties of Religious Experience.
Robert S. Ellwood is an American academic, author and expert on world religions.
New religious movements in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States have a history going back to the 19th century.
The role of spirituality in health care has received significant research attention due to its benefits for patients and health care professionals. Integrating spirituality in healthcare can enhance healthcare professionals' ability to communicate effectively with patients and families. It can also have a positive impact on the health and well-being of patients due to its potential to enhance patients' ability to cope with illness and achieve better physical and mental health outcomes. As per 2014, more than 70 medical schools in the United States offer courses on spirituality and medicine. The Association of American Medical Colleges has co-sponsored, with the National Institute for Healthcare Research, four conferences, on curricular development in spirituality and medicine since 1997.