Book Summery

In this book, Wulff attempts to discuss the relationship between religion and psychology. In essence, the author examines the uneasy relationship between psychology and religion and how it changes and develops over time. The book then considers the scientific psychological research of religious practice, thought, and feelings have been influenced by the confinement to the study of Western Christianity. In this paper, the focus is on chapter two –religion and psychology.

 In chapter two, the question that seems to be addressed is, “Is the psychology of religion the psychology of Western Christianity?” According to the author, religious attitudes and beliefs can be related to introversion and neuroticism. Introversion entails low sociability and impulsivity whereas neuroticism entails anxiety, depression, tension, and low self-esteem. Neurotic introverts can be more easily conditioned than other people and thus be more prone to injunctions of all manners, including religious injunctions.

The study has it that the different religious traditions are so different from one another that there can be no common ground of understanding arrived at by psychologists. The Buddhists seem to place more emphasis on the psychological-interpersonal-spiritual context in their understanding of psychological difficulties. They also believe that sorrow and misfortune result from faulty of perception. Christianity has it that difficulty is as a result of personal responsibility. They also regard sin as a misuse of human freedom, with sufferings being the result of sin. According to Hinduism, plagues in one’s life result from an evil eye, life stress, spirit possession, or repercussions of previous lifestyles. Islam holds that sin is caused by pride and self-sufficiency. In this religion, regular prayer is beneficial psychologically.

Summary 2

Burnaford, Gail E., Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss, eds. Renaissance in the classroom: Arts integration and meaningful learning. Routledge, 2013.

In their book, Gail Burnaford, Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss address the issue of lack of fruitful partnership projects involving curriculum integration, as well as the development and documentation of coherent models for designing and implementing the integrated curriculum. These authors strive to address that lack by presenting a detailed primer on the arts education partnerships as well as curriculum integration visa arts.  In chapter one, the authors discuss arts integration as they define it and give a reason for doing the integration.  From this chapter, we can learn that children need arts in their daily lives and they can benefit from arts learning that is deeply immersed in all curricula areas. Learners need to have daily access to the teachers who think creatively about how learning in their classrooms can extend the textbook and dip well into the real world.

The authors, using various case studies from schools agree that child should participate actively as they use their hands and minds to make connections between what they learn and what they live. They also say that arts integration is compatible with other engaged learning techniques like problem-based learning as well as teaching with the knowledge of the multiple intelligences. Incorporating arts into the curriculum can help schooling to be more rigorous, real, and creative for students. They say that arts integration is the way of conceptualizing teaching and learning rather than a formula or a strict structure that needs specific resources.  It encourages individuals and groups of students to stretch out their hand to the community resources and make useful links to the school curriculum. Arts integration also encourages leaders of the young learners to observe the connections between the knowledge in a given area to another, between a unit in one subject and a unit in another.  This association will show the students that such way of thinking is possible and is done in the real world.

Summary 3

Alterio, Maxine, and Janice McDrury. Learning through storytelling in higher education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning. Routledge, 2003.

Alteiro, Maxine, and Janice’s book is the first one to cover storytelling as an effective learning tool at higher education, and since then storytelling as a learning tool has become increasingly popular. The authors have woven together the traditions of story-telling and reflective learning. They give their own experiences to help the readers find a plethora of ideas for students and other professionals seeking to give stories an honored place in not only their learning but also their practice within the educational and clinical context. The chapter seven of this book describes the way to introduce learners to several reflection theories to help them understand the essence reflective learning. Reflective learning is defined by the authors as the process of internally contemplating and exploring a problem of concern, activated by an experience that creates and clarifies the meaning regarding self, and that leads to a changed conceptual perspective.

The authors say that reflective learning offers a way of accessing what practitioners know and instinctually but cannot easily share it, something referred to as tacit knowledge.  Reflective practice helps to reveal any discrepancies between the espoused theories –what the practitioners perceive is happening and why the theories in use –what is happening in practice. The attempts to grasp tacit knowledge and find ways of breaching the gap between the espoused theories and the theories in use led to the development of reflective practice.  The authors say that, apart from helping to bleach the gap stated above, it can initiate and support new leaning.  By examining the definitions from various scholars, the authors find common ground in all the views.  They say that the process of reflection entails self and its consequence is a changed conceptual viewpoint.  Explanation (categorizing, conceptualizing, and constructing theories from experience) and expression (of letting the meaning from experience to become apparent) are two ways of reflecting on and processing experience. 

Works Cited

Alterio, Maxine, and Janice McDrury. Learning through storytelling in higher education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning. Routledge, 2003.

Burnaford, Gail E., Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss, eds. Renaissance in the classroom: Arts integration and meaningful learning. Routledge, 2013.

Wulff, David M. "Psychology of religion." Encyclopedia of psychology and religion. Springer US, 2010. 732-735.

 Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing research paper writing service California. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from nursing paper writing services Pennsylvania.