JAMES W JONES, PSY.D, PH.D, TH.D*

Interests Religion and Psychology Religion And Terrorism and Violence Spirituality and Psychotherapy Religion and Mental and Physical Health Religion and Science, especially epistemology and neuroscience

*Honorary Doctorate. In January 2003, Dr. Jones received an honorary doctoral degree from one of the oldest faculties of one of the oldest universities in Europe - the Theology/Religious Studies Faculty of the University of Uppsala in an elaborate and moving ceremony involving receiving a ceremonial hat, ring, and diploma and the firing of a cannon salute. Click here for pictures from the ceremony.

Books

New Book from Oxford University Press

Blood That Cries Out From the Earth: The Psychology of Religious Terrorism

A groundbreaking approach to the understanding of  terrorism,

blending insights from religious studies with clinical psychology

Religious terrorism has become the scourge of the modern world. What causes a person to kill innocent strangers in the name of religion? As both a clinical psychologist and an authority on comparative religion, James W. Jones is uniquely qualified to address this increasingly urgent question.  Research on the psychology of violence shows that several factors work to make ordinary people become dangerous to others. These include feelings of humiliation or shame, a tendency to see the world in black and white, and demonization or dehumanization of other people. Authoritarian religion, Jones shows, is a particularly rich source of such ideas and feelings, which he finds throughout the writings of Islamic jihadists, such as the 9/11 conspirators. Jones goes on to apply this model to two very different religious groups that have engaged in violence: Aum Shinrikyo, the Buddhist splinter group behind the sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway system, and members of the extreme religious right in the U.S. who have advocated and committed violence against abortion providers. Jones notes that not every adherent of an authoritarian group will turn to violence, and he shows how theories of personality development can help us understand why certain individuals are easily recruited to perform terrorist acts.

More at WWW.Bloodthatcriesout.com 

WAKING FROM NEWTON'S SLEEP: DIALOGUES ON SPIRITUALITY IN AN AGE OF SCIENCE

Must religion and science conflict?
Tim, a chemical engineer, gradually finds his exclusive reliance on science being called into question by the events of his life, by his dreams, and by discussions with his coworker Matt and Matt's wife June. Their conversations probe, debate, and explore whether science alone is sufficient to explain everything, how science and religion might coexist, whether science might lead toward a spiritual path, and what sort of spirituality might be both life-transforming and congruent with modern science. Tim struggles, resists, and, in spite of himself, finds his viewpoint slowly changing. Tim's story illustrates the finding of a spiritual path in a scientific age, not through a drastic crisis but rather through a gradual process of becoming open to new experiences and rethinking old assumptions.

THE MIRROR OF GOD: CHRISTIAN FAITH AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE - LESSONS FROM BUDDHISM AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

• Why religions, especially Christainity and Buddhism, are best thought of as spiritual practices rather than as sets of beliefs or rules
• Why Buddhism and Christianity have much to learn from each other
• That there is a spiritual dimension to human life and why spirituality is necessary for the fully human life
• How spiritaul practices function as a critique of contemporary culture
• How spiritual practices can transform our lives

More about The Mirror of God

TERROR AND TRANSFORMATION: THE AMBIGUITY OF RELIGION IN PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

• The psychological roots of religious terrorism
• How the same religion has sponsored both inspring teachings and horrific acts of inhumanity
• The psychodyamics of religious transformation
• How religion can exist without producing fantaicism

More about Terror and Transformation.

Current Academic Positions

• Professor of Religion, Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University
• Senior Research Fellow, Center on Terrorism, John Jay College, New York
• Lecturer in Psychiatry and Religion, Union Theological Seminary
• Visiting Professor, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

Professional Accomplishments

• Holds doctorates in both Clinical Psychology (Rutgers University) and Religious Studies (Brown University).
• Author of ten books including In The Middle Of This Road We Call Our Life; Contemporary Psychoanalysis And Religion; Religion and Psychology in Transition;  and Terror and Transformation: the Ambiguity of Religion in Psychoanalytic Perspective as well as numerous professional papers. His books have been translated and published in Japan, China, Latin America and Europe and he lectures regularly in Europe and America.
• Awarded the William Bier Award by the Division of Psychology of religion at an annual meeting of the American Psychological Association for his contributions to the field and nominated for the Oskar Pfister Award for 2002. A Fellow of the American Psychoological Association.
• In private practice in New Jersey.

Address

Department of Religion, Rutgers University, 70 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901-8525. Phone: 732-932-9623

email: jwj@rci.rutgers.edu

Full vitae is available at the Religion Department Website or at my CV(.doc) or my new CV

Course Material

Healing course syllabus.

Psychology and Religion Course Syllabus

Seminar: American Psychoanalysis and Religion

Religious Thought Syllabus and Lecture Outlines

Religion and Science

Seminar: Neuroscience and the Religious Self

Seminar: Meditation and Psychophysiology

Last edited on 6/1/08