prof. Katarzyna Skrzypińska

The beginnings of building an organization that promotes knowledge can be difficult, but with time and consistency of action, they bring abundant harvest. So it was with our history – the history of the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (PSPRS, pol. PTPRiD). For it to be created, the needs of the scientific community, the conditions for practicing science and the determination of people who see the need for continuous development became important.

One of the first official conference meetings in Poland, where the subject of religion and human health was discussed, was initiated in December 1990 by Prof. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska: an event in Mogiliany, at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) center, gathering researchers around the topics of Religion, Mental Health, Mental Pathology. The previous political and economic situation did not create any opportunities or even an atmosphere conducive to the free pursuit of science or international exchange. It was only after this initiative that the organization of further events of this type began to be bolder, also with the participation of foreign guests. It is worth mentioning the activities of Dr. Paweł Socha in 1995 (1st National Symposium on Psychology of Religion, Krakow: Institute of Religious Studies, Jagiellonian University) or Dr. Kazimierz Franczak† (2nd National Symposium on Psychology of Religion, Warsaw: Salesian Institute of Christian Education) and many subsequent initiatives that showed the need to integrate the environment of psychologists interested in the issues of religiousness and human spirituality.

A series of subsequent meetings and the development of the psychology of religion and spirituality in Poland are described in the publication by Skrzypińska and Socha, currently being developed by the Cambridge publishing house, together with a series of review articles collected in the volume Cambridge International Handbook of the Psychology of Religion edited by K.L. Ladd, J. Basu, V. DeMarinis, U. Ok, and W. Zangari. A solid description of some of the earlier meetings, made by Prof. Paweł Socha, Prof. Borys J. Soiński, and Prof. Dariusz Krok can also be found in the book of abstracts from our 1^st Conference in Gdańsk in 2012.

It usually happens that in a creative environment an idea arises that matures in time and space. That is what happened the next time too. In 2011, three originators-founders of the new association met at the University of Gdańsk, at the Faculty of Social Sciences: Dr. Katarzyna Skrzypińska, Jana Nowak and Marta Boińska, PhD students of the University of Gdańsk. At that time, there was a long maturing need in Poland to integrate researchers who would contribute to the progress of the psychology of religion and spirituality. Only, there was a problem with this last phenomenon. In the United States, Division 36: Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality operated within the American Psychological Association (APA). However, in Europe there was no organization of this type that would represent a scientific approach to spirituality and has it in its name, although since 1914 there has been a dynamic and invaluable contribution of International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR). In Poland, however, there was no institution that would associate psychologists, religious studies scholars, sociologists, philosophers, theologians or other researchers who would be interested in the interdisciplinary field of both the psychology of religion and spirituality in their equal status. Anyway, the topic of spirituality itself was quite uncomfortable due to the legacy of philosophical psychology. Difficult to define, and even more elusive concepts, such as “the soul,” devalued in science as a result of the impulse of new discoveries by German naturalists at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Therefore, should difficult phenomena be cognitively avoided only because we lack the tools to explore them? Definitely not. It is these types of challenges that drive the development of empiricism, discovering unknown areas with available tools. In addition, there was a need to integrate the social environment through the exchange of information between various research centers. Therefore, one of the originators, Dr. Katarzyna Skrzypińska, together with Prof. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska, implemented the idea of a tripartite agreement and cooperation of universities, especially those exploring the subject of psychology of religion: the Jagiellonian University (UJ) togetherwith the University of Gdańsk (UG) and The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). Representatives of these universities undertook cooperation with centers throughout Poland, but also abroad.

In connection with all these events at the 1st International Psychological Conference in Gdańsk, at the University of Gdańsk (24–25 April 2012) entitled “Science Facing Religiousness and Human Spirituality,” we decided to establish the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Among the founding members we could find (in alphabetical order): Katarzyna Adamczyk, Adam Anczyk, Marta Boińska, Amadeusz Citlak, Stanisław Głaz, Zofia Grudzińska, Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska, Kazimierz Franczak†, Marek Jarosz, Agnieszka Kamińska, Mariusz Karbowski, Dariusz Krok, Andrzej Molenda, Jana Nowak, Stanisław Nowosielski, Jarosław Polak, Jacek Prusak, Sebastian Rosada, Małgorzata Sacha, Katarzyna Sadowska, Katarzyna Skrzypińska, Paweł Socha, Joanna Szczepaniak, Michał Wiechetek, Emilia Wrocławska‑Warchala. A year later, the District Court, VII Commercial Division of Gdańsk-Połnoc, registered the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (PTPRiD), along with a correspondence address at the University of Gdańsk. The president of the association became Prof. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska, and Dr. Katarzyna Skrzypińska (secretary) and Dr. Marek Jarosz were members of the Management Board.

The 1st Conference abounded in various topics related to both the subjective dimension of human religiosity and spirituality, as well as the intercultural one. It concerned theoretical, empirical and application aspects related to the discussed area. It gathered over 100 active and passive participants from Poland, the USA, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Germany. The inaugural speech was delivered by Prof. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska (Jagiellonian University) From Psychology of Religion to Cultural Psychology of Religion – The Need for a Paradigm Shift, and plenary lectures by prof. David Wulff (Wheaton College) Restoring Qualitative Inquiry to the Psychology of Religion, Dr. Katarzyna Skrzypińska (University of Gdańsk) Religiosity and Spirituality – Psychological Coexistence or Separation? and Dr. Paweł Socha (Jagiellonian University) Transformation and Holiness – Distinctive Signs of Spirituality from the Existential and Cognitive Perspective.

The 2nd Conference was held on 3–4 June 2014 at The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin under the chairmanship of Prof. Jacek Śliwak, with the participation of keynote speaker Prof. Dirk Hutsebaut (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), who has been cooperating with the researchers of this University for years and presented the Post-Critical Belief Scale and Prof. Czesław Walesa(The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin) Koncepcja religijności człowieka [Human Religiosity Concept]. At the same time, the first formal meeting of the Congress of our Society took place in Lublin. Further perspectives of activities were determined during it.

The next meeting was the 3rd International Conference of the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality: “Psychology – Culture – Biology,” which took place 20–22 June 2016 under the leadership of Prof. Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska, at the Pedagogical University of Krakow. This event introduced the knowledge of relationship between health and religion, and made a significant contribution into development of international cooperations.

In 25–26 June 2018, the 4th International Conference on the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality took place: “Religion – Spirituality – Health – Social Relations,” in Opole: University of Opole, under the supervision of Prof. Dariusz Krok. We then hosted Prof. Christopher Lewis (Wrexham Glyndŵr University) presenting the speech Examining Religious Experience with the Alister Hardy Question: Celebrating 50 Years and Dr. Miguel Farias (Oxford University) with the lecture Can Meditation Save the World?.

In unusual conditions, because online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we met during the penultimate, the 5th International Conference on the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality: “Spirituality and Religiosity: Theoretical and Applied Aspects” (19–20 October 2020) in Szczecin: University of Szczecin, chaired by Prof. Zdzisław Kroplewski. We had the opportunity to listen to the fascinating lectures of Prof. Julie J. Exline (Case Western Reserve University) Spiritual Struggles and Prof. Stefan Huber (Ruhr University Bochum) Reflections on Operational Concepts of Religion and Religiosity. The online formula also allowed for the presentation of posters submitted by the participants. The organization of all the events described above was supported by people supplying the Local Organizing Committees in cooperation with The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the Jagiellonian University and the University of Gdańsk.

An important area of meetings and at the same time diversifying the activities of our Society are bi-monthly webinars conducted online, initiated in 2021 on the initiative of Prof. Dariusz Krok, the treasurer of the Society. We invite people who want to share the subject and research they conduct. So far, we have managed to present the materials of 13 scientists and practitioners who wanted to share their knowledge and started a discussion on a given topic. In addition to the original meetings of the Society, we organize other international conferences in cooperation with foreign partners. This was the case in 2016, when the 5th European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health (ECRSH) was held at the University of Gdańsk: “Religion and Spirituality in Health Care: Risk or Benefit for the Patient?” initiated by Dr. Rene Hefti, head of the Research Institute for Spirituality and Health (RISH) from Switzerland, and Dr. Katarzyna Skrzypińska. In turn, in 2019, at the same University, we hosted another International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) conference – “Psychology of Religion and Spirituality: New Trends and Neglected Themes,” chaired by Prof. Pierre-Yves Brandt from University of Lausanne in Switzerland and Prof. Katarzyna Skrzypińska as a host. These events and many others testify to mutual trust and the desire for continuous personal and scientific development of an international nature. In addition, our activities have expanded to include cooperation with Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow, the University of Opole, the University of Szczecin and the Polish Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy from Krakow.

Our current meeting as part of the 10th Anniversary of the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality summarizes the activities so far in the form of cooperation, a number of published publications, lectures, workshops and webinars. So far, we have also invited outstanding personalities in the form of honorary members of the Society, who have been helping us and supporting a number of initiatives for years (e.g. Prof. David Wulff, Prof. Ralph Hood, Prof. Kevin Ladd, Prof. Christopher A. Lewis, Prof. Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi). At the same time, we expand our activities at other international conferences presenting our achievements (e.g. International Association for the Psychology of Religion, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR)). In addition, we publish in major foreign publishing houses (e.g. BRILL; see PTPRiD website: https://ptprid.org.pl/en/publications). Also after this meeting, we plan to publish a commemorative Jubilee Book, containing our history as a society and articles that are in line with the latest trends in the psychology of religion and spirituality.

We hope that this meeting will update our knowledge about the spiritual condition of modern man, will allow us to develop new research perspectives and will add a driving force to new discoveries, generating new ideas and dynamiccooperation to improve the spiritual condition and build a better world.

Wishes for fruitful scientific and organizational work!