Apter, Michael J. Reversal Theory: Motivation, Emotion, and Personality.
London/New York: Routledge, 1989.
Reversal theory is a perspective that challenges mainstream assumptions about
how and why people behave as they do. Unlike most psychological theories of
smooth and linear functioning, it posits alternation between discrete and incompatible
states.
Argyle, Michael. Psychology and Religion: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2000.
Baron-Cohen, Simon. Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. MIT Press, 1997.
Blackmore, Susan J. Dying to Live: Near Death Experiences.
Prometheus Books, 1993.
Near-Death Experiences, or NDEs, has been regarded either as evidence for the
existence of the soul and life after death, or as being merely the chemical
and physiological products of a dying brain. The author, after researching hundreds
of case histories and many interviews, offers a detailed review of this controversial
phenomenon. While presenting clear physical explanations for the changes that
take place within the brain, the author contends that spiritual transformation
comes from reinterpreting the concept of "self" through the experiences.
Broughton, Richard. Parapsychology: The Controversial Science. New
York, NY: Books, 1991.
Best up-to-date introduction, especially from experimentalist viewpoint.
Brown, Warren S., Nancey Murphy, H. Newton Malony. eds. Whatever Happened
to the Soul?: Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature. Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1998.
Presents nonreductive physicalism as a scientifically defensible view of human
nature that is consonant with Christian theology.
Buss, David M. Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. Allyn & Bacon, 1998.
Chalmers, David John. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Chamberlain, Theodore J., Christopher A. Hall. Realized Religion: Research on the Relationship between Religion and Health. Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2000.
Cheney, Dorothy L., Robert M. Seyfarth. How Monkeys See the World: Inside the Mind of Another Species. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Churchland, Paul M. Matter and Consciousness. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1988.
Collins, John Joseph, Michael A. Fishbane. eds. Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys. State University of New York Press, 1995.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
Dahlbom, Bo. Dennett and His Critics: Demystifying Mind. Oxford, UK: Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993.
Devlin, Keith. Goodbye, Descartes: The End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind. John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
Dossey, Larry. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993.
Dossey offers in this and other books an excellent summary of research on intercessory prayer, much of which has focused on influencing non-human life.
Dretske, Fred. Mental Causation: Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress
of Philosophy, Volume 2: Metaphysics. Bowling Green: Philosophy Documentation
Center, 1999.
Argues that the usual ways for materialists to justify meaning and causality
by epiphenomenalism is faulty.
Dretske, Fredrick. Naturalizing the Mind. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995.
Analyzes qualitative experience as a purely naturalistic phenomena. Defends
this externalistic theory of mind against objections.
Eccles, Sir John, Daniel N. Robinson. The Wonder of Being Human. The Free Press, 1984.
Edge, Hoyt, L., Robert L. Morris, John Palmer. eds. Foundations of Parapsychology:
Exploring the Boundaries of Human Capability. Boston & London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1986.
The best survey of parapsychology results and theories from a primarily experimentalist
perspective.
Ehrlich, Paul R. Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. Penguin USA, 2002.
Elbert, Jerome W. Are Souls Real? Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000.
Emmons, R. A. The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns. New York, NY: Guilford,
1999.
Comprehensive examination of spirituality within human personality, where spirituality
is seen as striving for the sacred rooted in "ultimate concern." Reviews
research on ultimate concerns and psychological well-being and wholeness and
integration.
Foster, John. The Immaterial Self: A defence of the Cartesian dualist conception of the mind. London: Routledge, 1991.
Frank, Jerome. Persuasion and Healing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press,
1961.
In this classic volume, which has evolved through several editions, Frank introduces
the "common factors" model of psychotherapy—that psychological treatments
work not because of their technical-theoretical aspects, but because of common
underlying components of healing.
Glynn, Patrick. God: The Evidence: The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World. Rockland, CA: Prima, 1997.
Goldsmith, Timothy. The Biological Roots of Human Nature. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1994.
Griffin, Donald R. Animal Minds. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press, 1992.
Argues for the inadequacy of the attempt to deal with nonhuman animals, at least
as far down as bees, in behaviorist terms, because their behavior requires positing
the existence of mind analogous to our own.
Griffin, David Ray. Parapsychology, Philosophy, and Spirituality: A Postmodern
Exploration. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996.
Argues not only for the reality of ESP and psychokinesis on both empirical and
philosophical grounds but also that there are various types of evidence for
life after death that make its reality (in conjunction with philosophical possibility)
more probable.
Hitchcock, John L. The Web of the Universe: Jung, the "New Physics" and Human Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1991.
Jahn, Robert G., Brenda J. Dunne. Margins of Reality:
The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World. San Diego, CA: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
A well-documented research on effects of mind on altering physical matter by
a Princeton group. It recounts the findings of a research on the ability of
consciousness to influence random events. Had the research been done by a parapsychology
lab, it would have been dismissed immediately, but the work was done by an eminent
research group. The findings stretch our common assumptions about time, space,
consciousness, local influence, etc.
James, William. The Principle of Psychology. Henry Holt & Co., 1890.
Jeeves, Malcolm. Human Nature at the Millennium: Reflections on the Integration of Psychology and Christianity. Inter-Varsity, 1997.
Kellehear, Allan. Experiences Near Death: Beyond Medicine and Religion. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Koenig, Harold G., Michael E. McCullough, David B. Larson. eds. The Handbook
of Religion and Health. Oxford: Oxford Univerity Press, 2001.
This book represents a comprehensive review of the history, research, and future
directions in the study of religion and health. Its chapters address relationships
between religion and both mental and physical health, from well being to depression
to immune function, cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic pain, disability,
and other health conditions. In the appendix, the authors list 1200 separate
scientific studies on religion and health, and review each of these studies
rating them on 0-10 scale. With nearly 2000 references, this is currently the
most comprehensive resource for both academicians and the general populace interested
in religion and health.
Koenig, Harold G. ed. The Handbook of Religion and Mental Health.
San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1998.
This edited volume explores from a clinical perspective the relationship between
religion and stress, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and substance abuse.
Descriptions are provided on how different religious traditions approach mental
health and how psychiatrists and psychologists can best treat persons from different
religious backgrounds. The book includes chapters on use of religion in psychotherapy,
and also discusses role of chaplains and community clergy in providing mental
health.
Koenig, Harold G., Harvey Jay Cohen. eds. The Link Between Religion and
Health: Psychoneuroimmunology and the Faith Factor. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2002.
This edited volume examines the role of psychoneuroimmunology as an explanation
for the relationship between religion and physical health. Twelve leaders in
the scientific field of psychoneuroimmunology discuss their respective areas
of research and how their work may help to define why religion is connected
with better health. Separate chapters review research on religious involvement,
neuroendocrine and immune function, and explore what further research is needed
to understand the Link between religion and health.
LeShan, Lawrence, Henry Margenau. Einstein's Space and Van Gogh's Sky:
Physical reality and beyond. Brighton: Harvester, 1983.
Phenomenological psychology; perception of reality.
Lowe, E. J. Subjects of Experience. New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press, 1996.
Argues that any version of physicalism, even the mildest non-reductive form,
is inadequate to account for human experience; and that attributing causal power
to mental states is consistent with a naturalistic world view. Represents a
non-Cartesian dualist's view.
Masters, Robert, Jean Houston. The Varieties of Phychedelic Experience.
Park Street Press. 2000.
The most comprehensive and well researched guide to how psychedelics fundamentally
alter one's perception of reality.
McGinn, Colin. The Problem of Consciousness. Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell, 1991.
Murphy, Michael. The Future of the Body: Exploration Into the Further Evolution
of Human Nature. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy Tarcher, 1992.
Very rich summary of an enormous amount of empirical evidence for what
Murphy calls "metanormal" human functioning, whether in saints, athletes,
or others.
Nelkin, Norton. Consciousness and the Origins of Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Dreams, Illusion and Other Realities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Ornstein, Robert. The Evolution of Consciousness: The Origins of the Way We Think. Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Ornstein, Robert. The Roots of the Self: Unraveling the Mystery of Who We Are. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
Pargament, Kenneth I. The Psychology of Religion and Coping. Guilford
Press, 1997.
This book examines the literature on how religion is used to cope with natural
disasters, health problems, marital difficulties, financial problems, and relationship
losses. This book is probably the most comprehensive examination ever published
on the theory, research, and practice of religious coping.
Pearce, Joseph C. The Crack in the Cosmic Egg: Challenging Constructs of Mind and Reality. London: Lyrebird Press, 1973.
Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire. New York, NY: Random House, 2001.
Pols, Edward. Mind Regained. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.
Priest, Stephen. Theories of the Mind. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
Rogers, Carl. A Way of Being. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.
This—Carl Rogers' final book—is a marker for his larger body of work that challenged
the expert model of psychotherapy, and instead proposed that what heals is a
"way of being" with other people, one that is by no means limited
to psychotherapy, but extends to education, relationships, and politics.
Sabon, Michael. Light and Death. Grand Rapid, Zondervan. 1998.
Hospital-based medical research on near-death experiences by cardiologists in Atlanta.
Seager, William. Metaphysics of Consciousness. London, UK ; New York, NY: Routledge Publishers, 1991.
Searle, John R. The Rediscovery of the Mind. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1992.
Shrader, Douglas W. Near Death Experiences: Scientific, Philosophical and Religious Perspectives. Global Publications, 1994.
Sober, Elliot, David Sloan Wilson. Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology
of Unselfish Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.
The authors use research and reason to reshuffle the biological and psychological
cards when addressing prevailing scientific, especially sociobiological, assumptions
about altruism and egoism. Their case for evolutionary altruism requires showing
that group selection has been an important force in evolution. Their case for
psychological altruism requires showing that an ultimate concern for the welfare
of others is among the psychological mechanisms that evolve to motivate adaptive
behavior.
Sorabji, Richard. Animal Minds and Human Morals: The Origins of the Western Debate. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.
Sterelny, Kim. The Representational Theory of Mind: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1991.
Stevens, Anthony, John Price. Evolutionary Psychiatry: A New Beginning. Routledge, 2000.
Ring, Kenneth, Shurn Cooper, Charles Tart. Mindsight: Near-death and out-of-body experiences in the blind. William James Center for Consciousness Studies, 1999.
Documentation of nature of "seeing" the transcendent reality in near-death experiences among those blind since birth.
Tye, Michael. Ten Problems of Consciousness: A Representational Theory of the Phenomenal Mind. Bradford Books, 1996.
Wade, Jenny. Changes of Mind: A Holonomic Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1996.
Wallace, B. Alan. The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Ward, Keith. In Defence of the Soul. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications, 1998.
Watts, Fraser. ed. Perspectives on Prayer. SPCK/Pondview Books, 2001.
Watts, Fraser, Mark Williams. The Psychology of Religious Knowing. London: G. Chapman, 1994.
Watts, Fraser. Theology and Psychology. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2001.
Wright, Robert., Luann Walther. eds. The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. Random House, 1995.
Zaleski, Carol. The Life of the World to Come: Near-Death Experience and Christian Hope. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Zaleski, Carol. Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times. Oxford University Press, 1988.