METHODOLOGY OF STUDYING THE RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL

Abstract

The research of the issue of the religious consciousness of military personnel is caused by the introduction of the institute of military chaplaincy into the structure of the state’s law enforcement agencies as well as by the need to search for new approaches to the mental preservation of combatants. This article attempts to analyze the main research approaches in psychological science regarding the study of individual religious consciousness. The following research approaches to the study of religious consciousness of military personnel are theoretically described: historical, comparative, contextual and psychological-hermeneutic. It has been established that a historical approach to the consideration of religious phenomena envisages that they are studied in the context of social life as a result of certain conditions of people’s existence. With a historical approach to religious phenomena, scientists try to investigate diachronically the reasons and consequences in the history of religious institutions, ideas and methods of action. A comparative approach to the study of modern religion involves identifying the common and the different in various religions at a specific time. The determination of groups with different religious self-identification makes it possible to clearly define the features of modern religious and atheistic consciousness. A contextual approach to the study of religion aims to identify the ways in which religion is influenced by its social, political, and other contexts. A psychologicalhermeneutic approach to the study of modern religion pays attention to the contents of religious phenomena and religion for military personnel or to the interpretations that military personnel give to phenomena and religions. The prospects of future scientific research include the study of issues related to the use of traditional psychological methods and standardized methods of studying the religion of military cadets.