Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit

1. FUTURE/S: Psychological, Cultural, and Religious Imagination in Times of Uncertainty

In keeping with this year’s Annual Meeting theme FUTURE/S, the Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit invites proposals that explore how psychological, cultural, and religious frameworks shape, constrain, resist, or reimagine future possibilities. At a moment when scholars of religion face profound uncertainty—within higher education, across global sociopolitical landscapes, and in communities navigating trauma, injustice, and ecological precarity—our field is uniquely positioned to examine how people draw upon religious narratives, symbols, rituals, and spiritual experiences to make meaning of an uncertain future.

Religious traditions have long shaped how people imagine the future through apocalyptic visions, eschatological hopes, moral warnings, and practices that form psychological dispositions such as fear, resilience, or hope. Today, digital media, climate anxiety, political unrest, and racialized violence also influence how individuals and communities envision what is possible. Scholars of psychology of religion are well positioned to examine how these religious and cultural forces interact: How do spiritual practices shape future-oriented emotions? How do trauma or moral injury reshape temporal imagination? What kinds of futures are opened or foreclosed by particular religious narratives, cultural discourses, and psychological frameworks?

We welcome papers that engage these questions from diverse methodological perspectives, including psychology of religion, psychoanalysis, empirical research, pastoral theology, cultural analysis, ecological and postcolonial approaches to spiritual care and clinical or community-based practice. Proposals may address, but are not limited to:

• the psychology of eschatology, apocalypse, utopian or dystopian imagination;
• how trauma, moral stress, or resilience shape perceptions of the future;
• religious narratives that open or constrict imaginative horizons;
• intercultural or interreligious visions of hoped-for futures;
• how individuals and communities cultivate agency, resistance, or meaning-making amidst uncertainty;
• cultural trauma, collective memory, and the reimagining of communal futures;
• psychological implications of religious futurisms (Afrofuturism, Indigenous futurisms, speculative theology, etc.).

2. Transformative Psychology of Religion (Co-Sponsored with Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy)

Once criticized as reductionistic in its study of religion, the psychology of religion has more recently pivoted toward more lively and transformative approaches to practice with lived experience, communities, and pedagogy. This co-sponsored session invites proposals that highlight how research insights in the psychology of religion translate into transformative practice, public engagement, and caregiving contexts. Of particular interest are proposals that utilize psychological theory to help strategize concrete practices and interventions for political organizing and resisting oppression. Both individual papers and organized panels are encouraged for submission.

3. Liberation Theology Meets Liberation Psychology (Co-Sponsored with Liberation Theology Unit) 

The Liberation Theology Unit and the Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit invite proposals for a co-sponsored session on liberation psychology, with particular attention to the legacy and ongoing influence of Ignacio Martín-Baró. A social psychologist and Jesuit priest from Spain who lived and worked in El Salvador and the United States, Martín-Baró drew from liberation philosophy, Marxist, feminist, and decolonial thought, as well as liberation theology, to critique dominant psychological paradigms and call for socially engaged, community-centered praxis. 

We welcome proposals that critically examine Martín-Baró’s contributions, extend liberation psychology in diverse cultural or geopolitical contexts, or explore its implications for contemporary approaches to the psychology of religion. We are also interested in proposals that consider how liberation theology and related movements continue to inform, challenge, and reshape the study of religion, spiritual care, chaplaincy, clinical counseling, and pastoral practices in congregational, community, and non-profit settings. Papers that bridge liberation theology, the psychology of religion, and the social sciences, especially those employing interdisciplinary, intercultural, or community-based perspectives, are particularly encouraged.

4. Psychology of Religion and Global Authoritarianism

The Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit invites papers that critically examine the psychological dynamics through which religious beliefs, symbols, narratives, and practices are used to support, legitimize, or strengthen authoritarian forms of leadership and governance. Across diverse cultural, political, and ecclesial contexts, religion can function not only as a moral or spiritual resource but also as a powerful psychological tool that shapes identity, fosters obedience, reinforces social hierarchies, and normalizes coercive or exclusionary authority. We welcome proposals that explore how religious traditions, rituals, and mythologies cultivate psychological dispositions toward submission, loyalty, fear, redemption, or hope; how leaders mobilize religious language to gain compliance or suppress dissent; and how religious communities internalize or resist authoritarian uses of religion.

5. Celebrating and Honoring the Work of Carrie Doehring

The Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit invites proposals for a session honoring the extraordinary contributions of Carrie Doehring, a prominent scholar in the psychology of religion, pastoral psychology, pastoral theology, and chaplaincy; a licensed psychologist; a theological educator; and a Presbyterian minister. Doehring has been a leading voice in researching, teaching, and practicing interreligious, socially just, and research-informed spiritual care, particularly in relation to trauma, moral stress, and spiritual struggle. 

Her now-classic text, The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach (Westminster John Knox, 2006; revised and expanded 2015), has shaped the curriculum of pastoral care and clinical pastoral education programs across North America and beyond. For this session, we welcome papers that (1) critically engage Doehring’s scholarly and pedagogical contributions; (2) explore how her work has influenced contemporary approaches to pastoral and spiritual care; (3) extend or reinterpret her methodological, psychological, or theological frameworks; or (4) examine the ongoing significance of her thought for chaplaincy, clinical practice, congregational ministry, interreligious engagement, or trauma-responsive spiritual care.

The PCR also encourages and welcomes proposals and roundtables on topics beyond those listed in the Call for Papers above. If you have any questions, please reach out to the co-chairs.