{{Short description|American psychologist (1868–1946)}} {{Infobox philosopher | region = Western Philosophy and Psychology | era = 19th/20th century philosophy | image = James H. Leuba.png | caption = | name = James Henry Leuba | birth_date = {{birth date text|April 9, 1868}} | birth_place = Motiers, Neuchatel, Switzerland | death_date = {{death-date and age|December 8, 1946|April 9, 1868}} | death_place = Winter Park, Florida | doctoral_advisor = | alma_mater = | academic_advisors = G. Stanley Hall | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | school_tradition = Naturalism | main_interests = Naturalism, psychology, psychology of religion, mysticism | influences = | influenced = | notable_ideas = | spouse = Bertha Aline Schopher | children = 7 | }}
'''James Henry Leuba''' (April 9, 1868 – December 8, 1946) was an American psychologist best known for his contributions to the psychology of religion. His son Clarence James Leuba was also a psychologist and taught at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.<ref name="McBride 1947">McBride, Katharine E. (1947). ''James Henry Leuba: 1867-1946''. ''American Journal of Psychology'' 60 (4): 645-646.</ref>
==Career== Leuba was born in Neuchâtel Switzerland, and later moved to America. He took his Ph.D. at Clark University under G. Stanley Hall.<ref name="McBride 1947"/> His work was marked by a tendency to explain mysticism and other religious experiences in psychological terms. Philosophically, his position may be described as naturalism.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://atheistscholar.org/AtheistPsychologies.aspx |title=Atheist Scholar |access-date=2011-07-25 |archive-date=2012-07-09 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709140851/http://atheistscholar.org/AtheistPsychologies.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> His work points to similarities between religious mysticism and yoga or drug-induced mysticism; he does accept differences between these in terms of moral motivation and to what uses mysticism is put.<ref>[http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2005-15131-004 PsycNET]</ref> His psychological study of religion aroused opposition from churchmen.<ref name="McBride 1947"/> He argued for a naturalistic treatment of religion, which he considered to be necessary if religious psychology was to be looked at scientifically. He was an atheist.<ref>Martin, Michael. (2007). ''The Cambridge Companion to Atheism''. Cambridge University Press. p. 310. {{ISBN|9780521842709}}. "Among celebrity atheists with much biographical data, we find leading psychologists and psychoanalysts. We could provide a long list, including...James Leuba..."</ref>
== Bibliography == * Leuba, J. H. (1909). ''The Psychological Origin and the Nature of Religion''. * Leuba, J. H. (1912). [https://archive.org/details/psychologicalstu00leubuoft ''The Psychological Study of Religion: Its Origin, Function, and Future'']. New York: Macmillan. * Leuba, J. H. (1916). [https://archive.org/details/beliefingodimmor00leubuoft ''The Belief in God and Immortality'']. Boston: Sherman, French. * Leuba, J. H. (1925). [https://archive.org/details/psychologyofreli029303mbp ''The Psychology of Religious Mysticism'']. New York: Harcourt, Brace. (1925 UK edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner). * Leuba, J. H. (1933). ''God or Man? A Study of the Value of God to Man''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. (1934 UK edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner).
== See also == * Psychology of religion
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=34809}} * {{Librivox author |id=11388}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Henry Leuba}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leuba, James}} Category:1867 births Category:1946 deaths Category:American atheists Category:20th-century American psychologists Category:American skeptics Category:Mysticism scholars Category:Psychologists of religion Category:Clark University alumni