Beyond Conceptual Fetishism of God Representations in the Psychology of Religion

Psychology of religion with or without God? The answer to this question depends on what we mean by “God.” This paper suggests that we go beyond the conceptual fetishism so often associated with the idea of “God” to reflect on the experiences that first give rise to longings, images, or ideas of an ultimate significance, of which the notion of “God” in religions is but one explicit version. In light of paleoanthropological and neurological findings about the origin of the idea of God, as well as clinical material, this paper will suggest that attention to the infinitizing capacity of relational human self-reflective consciousness, which is principally open to harm or health, is key for the psychology of religion. The field of the psychology of religion has been vulnerable to conceptual fetishism when it makes pastoral theological confessional objectivist claims about God based on research on subjective uses of God representations.