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In this short volume the Rev. Prof. L. W. Grensted attempts to survey a vast and complicated field. Acutely aware of the difficulties, he does not set out to make great claims but rather, in an enquiring way, to assess our present knowledge. As he points out, there is no agreement, even, as to the field which should properly be included under the general heading of religion, and still less is there agreement among psychologists as to the methods, aims, and subject-matter of psychology itself. In the ground covered by this volume, this lack of agreement appears to be highlighted in the problems involved in religious conversion and religious experience. That these occur is undoubted. What their meaning is, is the problem, particularly in the sense of how much psychological understanding of mental life permits us to separate from these phenomena, on the one hand purely psychological processes and on the other hand purely religious ones.
The psycho-analyst may feel that Professor Grensted does not do full justice to all that psycho-analysis, including its more modern developments, has to say regarding the psychological understanding of religious behaviour. However, it is always stimulating to hear the views of workers not engrossed in any particular field, even if such a field is the very wide one of psychology, and Professor Grensted's obvious sincerity will at least cause some examination of assumptions, to ensure that such assumptions are indeed valid and scientific.
Professor Grensted is to be congratulated that despite the relatively small size of this volume, much of the relevant literature is referred to, and a most useful bibliographical appendix completes the picture.