Can Religious States and Representations Be Religious and Secular? A Critique of the Psychology of Religion

Since the 1990s, there has been an ongoing discussion in religious studies about the uses of the terms “secular” and “religious.” This article applies the methodology of the critical study of religion within the psychology of religion. There are two main strategies to construct a research program in this field: (1) studying how religious senses occur (neurotheology, transpersonal psychology) and (2) studying how religious representations emerge (cognitive religious studies). This paper provides an overview of these two paradigms through the lens of the religious/secular dichotomy. Scholars who are trying to understand the nature of religious phenomena ignore a significant amount of data labeled as “secular.” The author then suggests studying such representations or senses beyond the religious/secular dichotomy.