ROBERT KUGELMANN — PAUL C. VITZ ON THE INTEGRATION OF RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY: AN APPROACH FROM THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

November 10, 2022

Talk Description
Paul Vitz has contributed significantly to the history of psychology in his many publications that address the question of the integration of psychology and religion. Before we can address what “integration” might mean, we need an understanding of what is being integrated, in this case, modern scientific psychology and the Catholic religion. Taking as a starting point Vitz’ 1977 book, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship, we will discern Vitz’ conception of what psychology has been and is, and what religion is. To specify these two entities further, we turn to his analyses of the nature of the “self,” and his differentiation of modern, postmodern, and transmodern selves. To grasp the promises and perils of psychology’s self, I will situate Vitz’ self-psychology in relation to other significant self-psychologists, including Mary Whiton Calkins, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Gordon Allport, and Rollo May. In this way, we can determine the significance of Vitz’ contribution. Vitz’ differentiation among types of psychology will be important in this endeavor, as will a related question: What about the soul and its relation to the self? Here I will argue that the soul has a place in psychological and in religious discourses. Finally, what is the meaning of “integration” of psychology with Christian religion in his work?

Biography
Robert Kugelmann was recently named Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Dallas. He has authored three books in the realm of psychology. Psychology and Catholicism: Contested Boundaries; Stress: The Nature and History of Engineered Grief, and The Windows of Soul: Psychological Physiology of the Human Eye and Primary Glaucoma. He is well known for his integration of Catholicism and religion with psychology. Dr. Kugelmann was recently named co-editor of Integratus: The Journal of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. Kugelmann graduated from The University of Dallas in 1978 with a Ph.D. in psychology and has since published numerous papers in prominent psychology journals and delivered many presentations.

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