My New Book on Living ‘Deeply’

I have recently handed in ms. of my latest book to Lutterworth Press. It is called “Living Deeply”. It is linked to a set of film clips that will shortly be available on YouTube for free download. This book absorbs the text of the film clips, but expands it considerably. The book is about how to live, and draws on both psychology and spirituality in an integrated way.

We had lengthy discussions about the title for this material. A previous version was called the “beta course”, but that is fairly uninformative and has already been used by others. For a while we thought of calling it ‘metanoia’, but we decided that was too obscure. We then got as far as thinking we wanted a two word title with ‘living’ as one of the words but what should be other work be? Eventually we went for ‘deeply’.

Read the article in full on my blog.

Living Deeply – the inner personal journey

For the last two months I have been very focused on completing my latest book, ‘Living Deeply’. It is always exciting, and a relief, to complete a book, and I will be celebrating.

Some years ago my colleagues in the University of Cambridge Psychology and Religion Research Group produced the ‘Beta Course’. It was a psychologically oriented introduction to Christianity, with a focus on ‘Being Christian, Becoming Whole and Building Community’. We tried to bring psychology and Christianity together to help people with personal growth and pastoral care.

Read the article in full on my website.

Fraser Watts discusses his new book – a 21st Century debate on Science and Religion.

The topic of science and/or religion is one that is debated the world over. From my point of view, and indeed that of my co-authors, this question is central to the search for truth, and the proper relationship between science and religion.

As Alfred Pritz puts in his opening foreword, the search for truth is interpersonal and personal, because we exchange our views and knowledge on what we call truth, but find that it lies in the personal, subjective world.

Read the full article on my blog.

Issues in Science and Theology: Do Emotions Shape the World?

This book examines emotions and emotional wellbeing from a rich variety of theological, philosophical and scientific and therapeutic perspectives.

To experience emotion is part of being human; but what are emotions? How can theology, philosophy and the natural sciences unpack the nature and content of emotions? This volume is based on contributions to the 15th European Conference on Science and Theology held in Assisi, Italy.

Read the full book review on my blog.

Laws of Nature, Laws of God

Up until the time of Newton, scientists regarded the understandings of the physical world, at which they were arriving, as glimpses of the working of the Creator’s mind. Thus, the generalisations being formulated about the behaviour of matter – the “Laws of Nature” – were seen as the Creator's injunctions, to created matter, as to how it was to act.

They were “laws” in the same sense as laws, Divine or human, about how people should behave: that is why the same word was used for both. And even now, scientific laws are occasionally spoken of as being “obeyed”.

Read the full article on my blog.

Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places

This Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies explores fundamental issues and critical questions in chaplaincy, spanning key areas of health care, the prison service, education and military chaplaincy.

Leading authors and practitioners in the field present critical insight into the challenges and opportunities facing those providing professional spiritual care. From young men and women in the military and in custody, to the bedside of those experiencing life’s greatest traumas, this critical examination of the role played by the chaplain offers a fresh and informed understanding about faith and diversity in an increasingly secular society.

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The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion

The relations between science and religion have been the subject of renewed attention, in recent years.

Developments in physics, biology and the neurosciences have reinvigorated discussions about the nature of life and ultimate reality. At the same time, the growth of anti-evolutionary and intelligent design movements has led many to the view that science and religion are necessarily in conflict.

Read the article in full on my blog.

The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology

The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology is the first collection to consider the full breadth of natural theology from both historical and contemporary perspectives and to bring together leading scholars to offer accessible high-level accounts of the major themes. The volume embodies and develops the recent revival of interest in natural theology as a topic of serious critical engagement. Frequently misunderstood or polemicized, natural theology is an under-studied yet persistent and pervasive presence throughout the history of thought about ultimate reality – from the classical Greek theology of the philosophers to twenty-first century debates in science and religion.

Read the full article on my blog.

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality is an interdisciplinary reference for a rapidly emerging approach to contemporary science. It reflects the recent broadening of the field of psychology of religion to include the psychology of spirituality, and engages with some of the post-materialistic assumptions associated with contemporary spirituality. The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality codifies the leading empirical evidence in this emerging field This overarching work provides both a foundation and a roadmap for what is truly a new ideological age.

Read about the book in full on my website.

Handbook of Memory Disorders

An international panel of renowned scientists and clinicians offers an accessible and practical review of the key research and latest clinical developments in the field.

This handbook describes theoretical concepts, assessment processes, clinical management and therapy, to produce results of considerable relevance to clinical practice and rehabilitation.

Read 'Handbook of Memory Disorders' in full on my website.

Behavioural and Mental Health Research: A Handbook of Skills and Methods

Behavioural and Mental Health Research, 2nd Edition is a thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded version of the invaluable guide to research skills for psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and graduates training in those disciplines.

It provides a series of practical guidelines for conducting any research project: from selecting the most appropriate approach, using computers, and analysing data to applying for funding, writing reports, and even how to enjoy your research.

Read more about my book I co-authored.

New Developments in Clinical Psychology (Volume 1)

This book contains 17 chapters each providing a concise summary of an advance in clinical psychology. The chapters cover work with a wide variety of patients and a range of clinical methods and approaches. Problems of handicap, adjustment and health, are all represented; as are methods of assessment, individual therapy and social intervention.

Read more about this book on my blog.

Creation: Law and Probability

Ten illustrious contributors explore an important but neglected topic on the interface of science and theology, i.e, the relationship between law and probability within creation.

Read about a book in which I edited that discusses this relationship in more detail on my website.

Christians and Bioethics

An examination of issues in bioethics from the perspective of Christianity. The contemporary world is facing some very difficult ethical issues in regulating the possibilities resulting from bioethical research – cloning, genetic engineering of food, organ transplantation, reproductive medicine and euthanasia.

Read about a book in which edited that covers the relationship between Christianity and the work in bioethics.

Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders: 2nd Edition

This book responds to the explosion of interest in using the methods of experimental cognitive psychology to help understand emotional disorders, especially common anxiety and depressive disorders. It reviews recent research, focusing on how emotion affects: conscious and non–conscious processing, memory bias and memory deficits, attentional bias, schematic processing, judgements, thoughts and images. It also explores how irregularities in these processes can contribute to emotional disorders.

Read about the book 'Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders: Second Edition' in which I helped co-author.