Paradoxes in psychology resonating in its empirical research of religion

Abstract As a scientific enterprise, the psychology of religion is vitally dependent on developments in psychology in general, sharing its strengths as well as its weaknesses. The article discusses psychology being haunted by a number of paradoxes that resonate in psychological research on religion as well. As a prominent specimen of such empirical psychology of religion, the oeuvre of R. W. Hood, a well-known contemporary US contributor to that field, is selected. Another stage in a long-standing cheerful dialogue with Hood, the article points out some remarkable parallels with the oeuvres of Hall and James, founding fathers of US psychology. While critically engaging with some of the core issues and tendencies in Hood’s publications, the article explains the sense in which his struggle to find a balance with regard to three paradoxical tendencies will be a major task for the field during the next few decades of the 21st century.