In brief, this work attempts to bridge a gap between theories which see religions as virulent memes or 'rogue cultural variants', the Cognitive Science of Religion, and the group-selectionists. As such, this is a synthesis of those fields with regard to their focus on religion. I begin by setting up a theory of Memetics - and, come to regard it as an incomplete evolutionary theory of [religious] culture, though valuable as a theory of transmission from which a phylogeny of religions might be drawn. A challenge to Memetics I credit to David Hull (in Aunger, 2000, pp51-52) is that a fuller understanding is needed of the mechanisms for cultural transmission. An account is needed for why human minds are particularly good at both picking up, and generating key religious concepts. Answers to this come from Cognitive Science or 'brain based' sciences which describe the neurological and cognitive con-elates of religious experience. The Cognitive Science of Religion sees religiosity as a by-product - an accident. I then proceed, drawing the reader into multi-level selection questions, by presenting D.S.Wilson's group-selectionist account of religion. His argument is that it is an evolutionary adaption. Respectively, either viral, accidental by-product, or adaptationist explanations of religion, there appears to be a conflict of interest. My aim is to bring together these theories and show that they overlap in important ways. I alter the group selectionist account to agree with most of its evidence, but not that belief in God has been selected for - rather that it's just incidental - and, I integrate viral transmission dynamics as a key ingredient of religion 's success. My original contributions to knowledge are as follows: to have merged three competing explanations of religion, and to have isolated which of those approaches explains the generation of God concepts insofar as such a concept has concomitant effects on behaviour - locating them within the proximate/ultimate distinction in philosophy of biology.

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While there is no shortage of literature in the field of psychology of religion, much of this has been approached from a theoretical and often subjective point of view, rather than from an empirical or objective one. This is particularly true in the area of child development, where no long-term studies exist, despite the relevance of these to the religious formation of children. The present study is based on the results of a religious projective test for use with adolescent girls. Typical patterns of conflict and idealism emerge, especially within the family and social context, but the relation of religion is found to be an indirect one, in either their production or their resolution. Differences emerge according to the age and social background of the girls, most problems being found with both the older and the more intelligent younger ones, while an immature function of religion seems to be more found with the less able, pre-school-leaving group. The analysis of the results is related to the wider field of child development studies at all ages, and in particular to the aims and methodology of catechetics. It is argued that much of the failure to convey religious ideas effectively, as well as the tendency to produce religious conflict, has been due to a faulty understanding of the basic psychology of the child, of his needs and learning processes at any given stage. In the course of the study several criteria of "religious content" are explored, including some specific to the present work, but none are felt to be entirely satisfactory from either standpoint, religious or psychological. A hope is expressed that future studies will emerge that will be equally acceptable on each of these lines.

This dissertation aims to rehabilitate the reasonableness of Hick’s religious pluralism by disclosing the deep structure of his philosophical system. To realize this aim, this dissertation will introduce a new philosophical method of reliabilism, which is proposed by Ernest Sosa and emphasizes total balance and historical maturation. As a result of the introduction of reliabilism, Hick’s philosophical system is disclosed to be composed of Hick’s own philosophy of personhood, combined with the philosophies of Wittgenstein, Kant, and Hume. Instead of emphasizing one of them, this dissertation will propose to read these different components of Hick’s philosophical system as forming a total worldview, which are complementary with each other. Also, this dissertation will situate Hick’s philosophy in the history of philosophy of religion (e.g. pre-analytical paradigms of British Idealism and Critical Realism, and analytical paradigms of Logical Positivism, neo-Wittgensteinian philosophy, and Reformed Epistemology). Hick’s project will be discussed as a recovery of a pre-analytical worldview from within analytical contexts. As Hick’s central philosophical works, this dissertation will focus on Faith and Knowledge and An Interpretation of Religion. Faith and Knowledge has not been examined in detail in past literature. But Hick’s arguments about personhood, Wittgenstein, Kant, and Hume in An Interpretation of Religion originates in Faith and Knowledge (both the first edition and the second edition). A correct understanding of Hick’s religious pluralism in An Interpretation of Religion is impossible without a detailed examination of Faith and Knowledge.

This study is concerned with the significance of Jungian and post-Jungian theory to the development of the contemporary Western Goddess Movement, which includes the various self-identified nature-based, Pagan, Goddess Feminism, Goddess Consciousness, Goddess Spirituality, Wicca, and Goddess-centred faith traditions that have seen a combined increase in Western adherents over the past five decades and share a common goal to claim Goddess as an active part of Western consciousness and faith traditions. The Western Goddess Movement has been strongly influenced by Jung’s thought, and by feminist revisions of Jungian Theory, sometimes interpreted idiosyncratically, but presented as a route to personal and spiritual transformation. The analysis examines ways in which women encounter Goddess through a process of Jungian Individuation and traces the development of Jungian and post-Jungian theories by identifying the key thinkers and central ideas that helped to shape the development of the Western Goddess Movement. It does so through a close reading and analysis of five biographical ‘rebirth’ memoirs published between 1981 and 1998: Christine Downing’s (1981) The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine; Jean Shinoda Bolen’s (1994) Crossing to Avalon: A Woman’s Midlife Pilgrimage; Sue Monk Kidd’s (1996) The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine; Margaret Starbird’s (1998) The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine; and Phyllis Curott’s (1998) Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman’s Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess. These five memoirs reflect the diversity of the faith traditions in the Western Goddess Movement. The enquiry centres upon two parallel and complementary research threads: 1) critically examining the content of the memoirs in order to determine their contribution to the development of the Goddess Movement and 2) charting and sourcing the development of the major Jungian and post-Jungian theories championed in the memoirs in order to evaluate the significance of Jungian and post-Jungian thought in the Movement. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the original research question: what is the significance of Jungian and post-Jungian theory for the development of the Western Goddess Movement? Each memoir is subjected to critical review of its intended audiences, its achievements, its functions and strengths, and its theoretical frameworks. Research results offered more than the experiences of five Western women, it also provided evidence to analyse the significance of Jungian and post-Jungian theory to the development of the Western Goddess Movement. The findings demonstrate the vital contributions of the analytical psychology of Carl Jung, and post-Jungians M Esther Harding, Erich Neumann, Christine Downing, E.C. Whitmont, and Jean Shinoda Bolen; the additional contributions of Sue Monk Kidd, Margaret Starbird, and Phyllis Curott, and exhibit Jungian and post-Jungian pathways to Goddess. Through a variety of approaches to Jungian categories, these memoirs constitute a literature of Individuation for the Western Goddess Movement.

This thesis studied transfonnational experiences of 'spiritual awakening' from a psychological perspective, using a phenomenological qualitative approach (specifically, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis). The aim was to study the phenomenology of individuals who claim to have had this experience. Purposive sampling was used to find a group of individuals who felt that they had undergone the experience of 'spiritual awakening.' Twenty-five participants made contact, primarily through the author's website, which focuses on issues relating to psychology and spirituality. Given this approach, the sample represented a subset of those who may have experienced spiritual awakening in broader contexts. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured format. The transcripts were coded, then the main themes of the twenty-five interviews were elicited. Twenty-five major codes were identified. These were ranked in tenns of the number of participants who shared them. All twenty-five participants reported a shift into a new psychological state, with a new sense of identity, new modes of cognition and perception, a new relationship to their surroundings and to other human beings (including increased authenticity and compassion) and new values (including a less materialistic attitude and increased altruism, in some cases leading to a change in career). In this respect, the study found that much of the phenomenology of their experiences was similar to the characteristics of 'spiritual awakening' as expressed by spiritual traditions and also by transpersonal psychologists. However, a significant number of participants also reported initial and ongoing difficulties and fluctuations in their state, including psychological disturbances, cognitive problems, difficulty dealing with practical and organisational tasks, confusion, and physical problems such as sleeplessness and ongoing pain. In this sense, the study confirmed the close relationship between spiritual experience and psychopathology, as noted by Grof (2000), Clark (2010), Lucas (2011) and others. The study discussed possible causes of the different aspects of the participants' experiences, and also the possibility that the phenomenology of their experiences may have been at least in part the result of narrative construction (especially in the aftermath of intensely traumatic experiences), in relation to the need to reconstruct their identity and establish a conceptual framework to make sense of their experiences. Although it was beyond the scope of this thesis to offer firm conclusions on this matter, further research which may be productive in this area was suggested. This study found that it may be misleading to conceive of the psychological shift interpreted by the participants as 'spiritual awakening' as a purely positive state, without attendant difficulties. It is perhaps more accurate to think in terms of a 'spiritual opening' - a psychological shift which can bring a more intense and expanded awareness, but which can create instability and disturbance.

Bibliographical references at end of each chapter / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)