Peter Homans has died

Peter Homans (1930-2009)

Peter Homans, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Religious Studies at the University of Chicago, died May 30, 2009.

He was born in New York City and earned degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary (B.D.) and University of Chicago Divinity School (M.A. & Ph.D.). His work emphasized psychoanalysis and is expressed primarily in three books,

• Theology After Freud: An Interpretive Inquiry


• Jung in Context


• The Ability to Mourn: Disillusionment and the Social Origins of Psychoanalysis

His final book is an edited volume, Symbolic Loss: The Ambiguity of Mourning and Memory at Century's End.

Homans was known for his teaching as well as for his scholarship. A warm tribute to him can be found at the University of Chicago, where the Dean of the Divinity school describes him as meticulous with details, but never forgetting the larger questions. Homans taught at the University of Chicago for 36 years.

Guilty, Until Victim is Resurrected

Here's an unusual news story: Cult Mother Not Insane Despite Odd Plea. The story is about a mother who starved her one-year-old child because he refused to say "amen" at the end of a prayer over the food. She pled guilty to the crime when the prosecuting attorneys agreed to her request that she be allowed to withdraw her plea if the boy is resurrected, which she expects to happen. Read the report for details.

Religion in Scientific American and Nature

Worthwhile articles on religion are in recent issues of Scientific American and Nature. The Scientific American article cites work by Justin Barrett and others suggesting that religious belief appears connected to consciousness. In Nature, Pascal Boyer writes that we are cognitively disposed to believe, and that disbelief requires effort.

Both articles are worthwhile, and might be especially useful for students in psychology of religion courses. For more depth along these lines, a good place to start would be Barrett's book, Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (Cognitive Science of Religion Series)

A Reminder

Take a moment to read this essay from Garrison Keillor about his recent encounter with death. Because the link will stop working in a week or two, here is the part that I most appreciated.

After walking by an auto accident scene while traveling in California, he writes:

You imagine the woman's plan for her day, maybe lunch in Malibu and a meeting at her kids' school and supper and a movie afterward, a simple day in sunny L.A., and you abandon your own plan to work and instead you walk around looking at the shining world on behalf of Alma who died on the highway.

You buy a mango/papaya smoothie and a cafe mocha and in the face of death they are spectacular. You sit at a table in the brilliant sunshine, the light splashing off the stone facades and aluminum moldings.

She was standing by her car waiting for help to arrive when she was struck by another vehicle and killed, and 30 minutes later men were standing at attention around her. It would be intolerable not to know the name of the woman. Attention must be paid.

She trails alongside you as you walk into a bookstore full of art books and you pick up one with pictures of California beach houses, all whites and yellows and pale blues, sun-drenched rooms, bowls of flowers, cotton curtains, the sea beyond. A beautiful world, Alma, and every day is a gift. I'm sorry you had to leave early.

Life is short, and we don't know when it ends. Appreciate the beauty that is.

Dean Hoge, 1937 - 2008

Dean Hoge, President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, has died. He had been ill with cancer for several months. The upcoming conference of the SSSR will honor him with a symposium on his life and work in the sociology of religion, which will take place during what would have been his Presidential Address. A quick examination of his c.v. shows that his main interest was in Catholicism, but his work addressed other topics as well. For example, his publications on religious giving garnered extensive attention by sociologists, psychologists, and other religion researchers.

You may pay your respects at a memorial service on Sept. 27, 2:30 p.m., at:
Takoma Park Presbyterian Church
310 Tulip Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912

His family asks that donations be sent to the Hoge Memorial Fund at the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church. Donations will support environmental projects that Dr. Hoge initiated.

Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch, whose Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University is one of the most inspirational lectures I've ever heard or read, died today. He wasn't religious, but his outlook might well be considered spiritual. Take a minute to learn more about him. You'll be glad you did.

Mourning for my Alma Mater

My alma mater, Northern Illinois University, is mourning today, following a shooting in one of its classrooms. News reports say that a gunman whose identity is not presently known shot and killed four students -- a number sure to increase -- and wounded many more when he fired a shotgun and then pistol in a large auditorium classroom before turning his pistol on himself. It is sad, and it hits me close to home as I think of the many exams I proctored in that very classroom during my grad school days.

Perhaps we will learn more about the reasons why he did this to people he did not know. Having an explanation such as that helps us deal with the pain and loss. But in our everyday lives, we do what we can to avoid the unpredictability that surrounds us. Events such as this, when they hit close to home, bring us back to the reality that our world includes unpredictability and it isn't as safe as we supposed it to be.

I am going to read again my copy of Elliot Aronson's Nobody Left to Hate. His social-psychological examination of the Columbine High School killings contains much wisdom for us as a society as we consider senseless violence.

More fundamentally, join me in a moment of silent reflection. Whether or not you believe in God, pause and contemplate existence and the fragility of life, and recognize that there are, every day, many people who suffer and who die horrible, premature, and preventable deaths. Then, consider how you might help alleviate at least a little suffering that goes on in the world today. There is too much war, too much suffering, and we all too often move through the day carefully avoiding exposing ourselves to it. Facing suffering is part of life, but doing something to alleviate even a small part of others' suffering is the essence of living.

The Undertaking

If you are in the US, check your local public broadcasting station for The Undertaking, part of the Frontline series. This program follows Thomas Lynch, a small-town Michigan undertaker who has a gentle approach with people experiencing the loss of a loved one. I was touched by the openness with which people allowed us into their lives, most especially by Nevada and Anthony Verrino. Their two year old son was born with a rare genetic condition, sick from the beginning of his short life. Their frank and moving interview is well worth seeing. You can view online the entire program, along with additional footage, including the Verrinos' loving eulogy of their son.