Bible, Psychology, and Social Studies: Interdisciplinary Project "The Relevance of the Bible for the Development of Religious and Spiritual Resources," KUL, Lublin

Abstract

The article reflects on the possible areas of cooperation between the Bible, psychology, and social studies. Introduction presents a methodological basis and a fresh dialog carried on in recent decades between biblical and psychological studies. In addition to the analysis of psychological phenomena in biblical texts from the classical, historical-critical perspective, scholars increasingly turn to positive psychology, neuroscience, and social studies, examining emotions, communication strategies, relationships, values and development of individuals and communities. The authors go on to indicate the topics and biblical texts that open up to a fruitful dialog with diverse psychological approaches. The second part of the paper describes an original project developed at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) titled “The Relevance of the Bible for the Development of Religious and Spiritual Resources,” which uses two tools for studying changes in religious and spiritual resources: Religious Resources Scale and Spiritual Resources Scale. They are employed to study the impact of biblical texts on people who differ in terms of developmental conditions (e.g., age) and/or situational factors (including experience of existential emptiness, loneliness, bereavement, migration, and war conditions). The paper describes the methodology and the psychometric indicators of the above-mentioned measurement tools. The Religious Resources Scale and the Spiritual Resources Scale are used to detect religious and spiritual changes under the influence of biblical texts. They constitute the methodological basis for a pioneering interdisciplinary research conducted at KUL, which promotes a cooperation between biblical studies and psychology.