Emotions and Spirituality in Religions and Spiritual Movements

Applying recent psychological and neuropsychological studies of emotions, Erika Wilson explores the role of emotions in major Eastern, Western, and primal religions, as well as in some contemporary spiritual movements. The book tries to answer the following questions: What kinds of emotions and spiritual experiences arise in individuals and groups during prayer, conversions, rituals, meditations, and other spiritual practices? Which positive emotions are valued most in a particular religion or spiritual movement? How do these attitudes relate to their respective historical context? And finally, how does each religious or spiritual teaching recommend handling negative emotions?

Erika Wilson was born in Germany and emigrated to the US. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1971 and her second Ph.D. in comparative religious studies from the University of Southern California in 1979. She has taught in the California State University System 1963, and, for the past nine years, at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Among other publications, she is the author of Religion in All Dimensions, 3rd ed (1998) and Healing and Well-Being in the Religious of the World (1996).