The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1879 page)

Psalms, liturgical use of
.

Use of
Psalms
in the Jewish and Christian
liturgical
services. Their regular use in Christian liturgy is at least as early as the 4th cent. (though in fact probably as early as Christianity itself). The introduction of Gregorian chant (see
GREGORY I
) universalized the style of their use; and St
Benedict
made it a requirement in his
Rule
that the whole
psalter
should be said or sung each week—an observance still followed by many religious orders. The increasing disappearance of morning and evening prayer as liturgical services has led to a marked decline in the use of the psalter, though metrical psalms (psalms translated into metrical hymns) remain popular; and some modern forms of chant (e.g., Gelineau and
Taizé
) have kept parts of psalms in use.

 
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Psalter
.

The book of
Psalms
in a form for use in devotion or worship.

 
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Pseudepigrapha
.

Jewish and Christian books whose purported origin or authorship is not as claimed by themselves. Thus books are attributed to Moses, Baruch, Solomon, Peter, Thomas, etc. Famous examples include the
Book of
Enoch
,
Jubilees
,
The Ascension of
Isaiah
,
The Assumption of
Moses
,
The Book of
Adam
and Eve
, and
The
Testament
of the Twelve Patriarchs
. See also
APOCRYPHA
.

 
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see
DIONYSIUS
.

 
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Psychodynamic theory
.

A dynamic model of the self which concentrates in particular on emotions and drives. This is perhaps the most widely used theory in the
psychological study of religion
.
Good examples of psychodynamic theory applied to religious phenomena are provided by the study of
witchcraft
(the witch providing an outlet for repressed emotions), the study of rituals of rebellion (providing cathartic release), and those studies which hold that religious institutions serve to compensate for social or other deprivations. Victor
Turner's
The Forest of Symbols
(1967) contains good illustrations of modified psychodynamic theorizing.

 
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Psychology of religion
.

The field of study which employs psychological techniques and theories to explore and explain religious phenomena. In the W., various schools of psychology have given birth to different treatments of religion. Theories have been taken from associational psychology (J. G.
Frazer's
The Golden Bough
, 1890–1937), from psychoanalysis (S.
Freud
, C. G.
Jung
), from social psychology (as surveyed by M. Argyle and B. Beit-Hallahmi in
The Social Psychology of Religion
, 1975), and from cognitive psychology (see L. Festinger,
When Prophecy Fails
, 1956, and D. Sperber's
Rethinking Symbolism
, 1975). The most influential of these approaches has been psychoanalytic theory, specifically in the
psychodynamic
form.
In most cultures, however, psychologies are less ‘of’ religious life than they are integral to it. Since religions must address participants as well as whatever is taken to be ultimate, they contain their own psychologies. The most sophisticated, and, it appears, efficacious indigenous psychologies appear in the great Eastern traditions (see e.g.
Rama
et al.
,
Yoga and Psychotherapy
, 1976), but there are countless other examples (e.g. V.
Turner
on rites of passage and curing rituals).
The most frequently met aim of indigenous psychologies ‘of’ religion is transformative. The aim of Western, supposedly more scientific psychologies of religion is explanatory.