Spilka B., Ladd K. Psychology of prayer. Scientific approach / Translated from English. Oksana Gritchina. Kharkiv: Humanitarian Center, 2014, 254 p. (in Russian)1

Translations of modern literature are a problem area for Russian religious studies: there are very few of them. Classical texts have been translated to some extent. Individual articles are at least occasionally translated and published in journals, but monographs have to be read independently in the original language. Obviously, this is a problem for many researchers due to language barriers. Therefore, the publication in Russian of a recent (published in English in 2013) monograph from recognized authorities in the field of psychology of religion, Bernard Spilka (Distinguished Professor of Denver-

1. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant 14-18-03771 "Modern Western Psychology of Religion: Adaptation in the Russian context", the recipient organization of funding-St. Tikhon Orthodox University for the Humanities.

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the author of numerous articles and books on the psychology of religion and spirituality) and Kevin Ladd (associate professor at Indiana University, where he directs the social psychology of religion laboratories), dedicated to the scientific study of the phenomenon of prayer, could not but cause joy and arouse some hopes, for example, for the use of this text by teachers of religious psychology, who, thanks to the translation, they will have the opportunity to go beyond the chronological framework that usually limits this course.

By itself, this monograph is very suitable for students to study. It accumulates the results of scientific research on prayer, referees a lot of conducted studies, combined into several groups. It should be noted that almost all the reviewed works are published in English and are devoted almost exclusively to the Anglo-American sample.

The authors ' basic approach is to study prayer as a communicative act. The minimal form of prayer they call a petition (pp. 86-87). At the same time, it is fundamentally important to take into account the multidimensional nature of the phenomenon of prayer as a phenomenon that has cognitive, physiological, and affective aspects. It is extremely important for authors to avoid both biases of any kind and anti-reductionism.

Through the description of approaches to the study of prayer, the authors create an essay on the development of the psychology of religion in the second half of the XX century. The cognitive approach, motivation theory, depth psychology (in the form of distinguishing internal and external religious orientation), neuroscience and social psychology studies described by them reflect the most significant approaches to the psychology of religion. The authors draw attention to the complexities of applying neuroscience approaches, as researchers face a high probability of introducing their own beliefs and assessments into their work when interpreting it.

Among the main topics raised by researchers of prayer, the authors distinguish:

- age studies. Such studies are related to the question of the evolutionary origin of religion, they look for the roots of prayer in childhood. Data on adolescence are contradictory; the authors of this book explain this by saying that the reference point for many of the researchers is the work of Jean Piaget, who was less involved in the psychology of adolescence.-

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In this area, too, its achievements are very limited. The least studied age-related features of prayer in adults (although there is evidence of correlations between prayer and age, gender, and race.

- study of adaptation and coping behavior. One of the functions of prayer, according to the authors, is to cope with both good and bad events. The role of prayer as a coping strategy is poorly understood in world science. However, the practice of prayer has been shown to correlate with overall life satisfaction, which in turn correlates with wellbeing. In addition, for the psychology of religion, as well as for the sociology of religion, it is important to distinguish prayer as a part of worship and as an individual practice. The nature of their relationship and their impact on coping remain the subject of future research.

For Western researchers, another field of prayer research is the analysis of prayer practices in relation to stress. Here again, the results are notable for their inconsistency: the higher the stress level, the more people pray; the more often they attend church, the lower the stress level (p.139). However, the high frequency of prayer can lead to anxiety. The studies under consideration explain this by various psychological types of the addressee of prayer: a loving or distant God (p. 141). Despite these contradictions, the practice of using prayer in therapy is also discussed.

- the effect of prayer on health. The conflicting results of research on the relationship between prayer and coping behavior are similar to the situation in the study of the relationship between prayer and health. Prayer frequency correlates with both higher and lower levels of health. This is due to the fact that people with life-threatening diseases resort to prayer as a last resort. Thus, prayer falls into the circle of non-traditional medicine practices, which causes an ambiguous attitude to it both on the part of religion and on the part of medicine.

Various studies have questioned the effects of prayer (often indistinguishable from meditation practices) on cortisol levels and immunity. However, studies aimed at finding correlations of prayer with indicators such as blood pressure or ECG have not yet been conducted.-

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It is obvious that such measurements are not so objective, and it is not possible to explain correlations solely by prayer, since the indicators are affected, in particular,by how, who measures and from whom. Therefore, the results vary depending on the religious groups studied.

The authors list numerous studies of prayer among people suffering from various diseases. They assess the status of these studies in different ways; for example, the study of the relationship of prayer with cardiovascular diseases raises more questions than it answers. The general trend is that those who pray believe that praying increases their chances of recovery. In addition, religious groups that share traditional values and promote a healthy lifestyle, such as dieting and exercising, have lower rates of various diseases (in particular, among Mormons and Adventists). Another question facing researchers on the relationship between prayer and health is: Is illness the result of stress and a lack of personal control? Can prayer affect your physiology and neutralize negative factors? (p. 183).

Sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS stand apart. Such diseases are religiously labeled as "sinners' diseases." Accordingly, they cause a more complex psychological response and create additional difficulties in the context of coping problems.

- health-related research on the impact of prayer for a person on his recovery (in the Russian edition - prayer for intercession). The general conclusion of the research is that prayer does not affect recovery. However, in addition to the placebo effect, these studies are influenced by the difficulty of establishing equal" severity " of the disease in the control and test groups. However, according to the authors, the lack of results does not mean that prayer does not affect the recovery process (p.209). However, when a study shows that prayer for a patient has an outstanding effect, such as on a woman trying to get pregnant, other researchers immediately suspect their colleagues of fraud and data manipulation.

The authors ' conclusion is, in fact, a call for the creation of a comprehensive psychological theory of prayer.

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Existing research needs to be critically rethought, especially with regard to research design and data analysis. One of the problems with modern research is that it focuses exclusively on the constructive role of prayer. However, according to the authors, the field of these studies has great prospects.

The advantages and richness of the book, unfortunately, are almost eliminated in its Russian edition. Translation demonstrates a very poor command of both special religious and psychological terminology. Suffice it to mention that the words "theologian" and "religious scholar" are used interchangeably. The design of the scientific apparatus also greatly reduces the possibility of using this book both in scientific and teaching activities. For example, references to literature are given in the form of the publication number in the list, which is placed at the end of the volume. The list of 629 sources covers 11 pages. It is inconvenient to use it and the links are designed strangely.

Unfortunately, the book "The Psychology of Prayer" shows that the lack of scientific editing skills is also one of the many problems of the growth of religious studies. The disunity of the religious studies community also leads to numerous problems : often we are not familiar with the existing tradition of naming names and do not know who to ask for advice from. The only way to avoid such deplorable results is to expand contacts and scientific ties, both with foreign colleagues and within the Russian-speaking scientific community.

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