Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Psychology, Memory, and Religious Narratives Pope Francis is in the Americas and will soon be welcomed by the U.S. Congress. What a difference 500 years can make! Attitudes toward Catholics have changed in recent years. Pope Francis offers words of hope to the disenfranchised. I’m focused on the dynamic of human memory and religious struggles--memories that appear so malleable and responsive to revised narratives. To some degree, we each control our own narrative. We tell the story others hear. We explain how religious and secular events fit into our personal history. Together with others, we also tell a collective history of our religious tribe. We share how we related to other religious and irreligious groups. And we forge new narratives when we act in the present. PERSPECTIVES In terms of human history, it wasn’t long ago that Catholics and Protestants were at each other’s throats. The church-state connections in Europe along with the attendant ...