Psychological type, religion, and culture: further empirical perspectives (Part III)

Introduction

This Special Issue of Mental Health, Religion & Culture marks Part III of a series entitled Psychological Type, Religion, and Culture: Further empirical perspectives …  (Lewis, 2012a, 2012b, 2015a, 2015b, 2018). Over the last ten years, this series has been a somewhat occasional fixture in the content of Mental Health, Religion & Culture. However, with several forthcoming issues currently in production and development, this series is on the way to becoming an established resource for researchers and practitioners alike.

This series (Lewis, 2012a, 2012b, 2015a, 2015b, 2018) aims to provide a dedicated forum for researchers and practitioners interested in examining the relationship between psychological type theory and religiosity, with a particular reference to culture. Indeed, the success of these previous collections on psychological type has served as the impetus for extending that work further.

Within this collection, psychological type is overwhelmingly measured by the 40-item Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS; Francis, 2005). The FPTS is now well established in the literature in the psychology of religion for measuring psychological type (for a review, see Francis, 2009). An exception to the use of the FPTS is one study (Payne & Lewis, 2021) that employed the 126-item Form G (Anglicised) of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985).

In addition to this Editorial, this Special Issue comprises nine empirical articles. Of these, seven articles are focused on Church leaders. In terms of Church leaders, Village (2021) reports on samples of 1522 clergy and 2474 laity from the Church of England using the FPTS. Crea (2021) reports on a sample of 105 Catholic priests serving in Italy using the Italian version of the FPTS. Francis, Village, and Voas (2021) report on a sample of 1,107 clergymen who participated in the Church of England’s Church Growth Research Project (Voas & Watt, 2014) using the FPTS. Rutledge (2021) reports on samples of 53 non-stipendiary clergy and 77 stipendiary clergy serving with the same Diocese of the Church of England using the FPTS. Payne and Lewis (2021) report on 191 clerics in full-time stipendiary ministry in the Church in Wales using the 126-item Form G (Anglicised) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and on 370 clerics in full-time stipendiary ministry in the Church in Wales using the FPTS. Francis, Jones, and Village (2021) report on a sample of 59 male Readers and 96 female Readers attending the Church of England’s National Readers’ Conference and a sample of 626 clergymen and 237 clergywomen serving in the Church of England using the FPTS. Crea and Francis (2021) report on a sample of 95 Catholic priests serving in Italy using the Italian version of the FPTS.

The remaining two articles are focused on congregations. Francis, Edwards, and ap Sion (2021) reports on a sample of 193 individuals attending Christmas carol services at Bangor Cathedral using the FPTS. Royle, Norton, and Larkin (2021) report on a sample of 1,034 worshipers were collected from 33 mainline congregations in the United States using the FPTS.

This Special Issue of Mental Health, Religion & Culture has illustrated the richness of contemporary research currently being undertaken in the field of psychological type, religion, and culture. This collection (Lewis, 2021a, 2021b), along with the previous two Special Issues (Lewis, 2012a, 2012b, 2015a, 2015b, 2018), clearly attest to the ongoing momentum of this specific research tradition. Indeed, Part IV of this series is currently in production.

This Special Issue would not have been possible without the assistance of many people. We wish to acknowledge the authors who provided stimulating articles and efficient revisions and reviewers for their judicious and insightful evaluations of the manuscripts submitted. We are particularly grateful to the regular Co-Editors of Mental Health, Religion & Culture for their continued enthusiasm for this ongoing initiative.