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Sandra Lee Dixon

Assistant Director, DU/Iliff Joint Doctoral Program in the Study of Religion; Associate Professor, Psychology & Religion, Critical Theory; Chair, Religious Studies

sandra.dixon@du.edu

303-871-2753 (Office)

Sturm Hall, 2000 East Asbury Avenue Denver, CO 80208

What I do

I am Associate Professor of Psychology and Religion in the Department of Religious Studies.

Specialization(s)

psychology of religion, moral psychology, cultural psychology, religion and moral psychology

Professional Biography

I studied at the University of Chicago's Divinity School for the Ph.D. in Religion and Psychological Studies and for the M.A. in Divinity. While there I worked in the Committee on Human Development as a research assistant on a project on moral development in the U.S. and India. I then served as project director of a study in the School of Social Service Administration on the social science background to issues in public policy for children. I received the A.B. in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College. My research interests focus in moral psychology across the lifespan. My dissertation and early research led to psychological and cultural studies of St. Augustine’s life and moral reasoning. My current research investigates long-term moral commitment, especially among pro-life and anti-abortion activists, as well as pro-choice advocates.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Religion and Psychological Studies, University of Chicago, Divinity School, 1993
  • MA, Divinity, University of Chicago, Divinity School, 1982
  • AB, Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, 1978

Licensure / Accreditations

  • Mental Health First Aid Certificate

Professional Affiliations

  • American Academy of Religion
  • American Academy of Religion; Psychology, Culture and Religion Unit
  • Association for Moral Education
  • Society for Psychological Anthropology
  • C.G. Jung Society of Colorado
  • American Association of University Professors, DU Chapter

Research

My research focuses on psychology of the moral life and its relationships to religion. I am interested in how people look at their lifespan and its moral challenges. I aim to elucidate the role that religion may play in morality across the lifespan, as well as how people may maintain serious moral commitment without support from religion.

My current research project relies on interviews with people who have been active one or the other side of the abortion controversy for at least ten years. The participants in the interviews who oppose abortion profess high levels of religious commitment. One of the pro-choice participants does. The interviews ask about their path to activism, its role in their lives, and their modes of self sustenance. The model under construction of religion and culture in the moral life draws on theory from cultural psychology and moral development, as well as on the interviews and observations of the study participants in their activism and daily lives.

Areas of Research

Psychology of religion
moral psychology
cultural psychology
moral development
St. Augustine
abortion activism

Featured Publications

Dixon, S. L., Doody, J., & Paffenroth, K. (Eds.). (2013). Augustine and Psychology. Lanham, MD, USA: Lexington Books.
Dixon, S. L. (2013). Reading Augustine, Monica, Milan with Attention to Cultural Interpretation and Psychological Theory. In S. L. Dixon, J. Doody, & K. Paffenroth (Eds.), Augustine and Psychology (pp. 39-67). Lanham, MD, USA: Lexington Books.
Dixon, S. L. (2013). Teaching Freud and Interpreting Augustine's CONFESSIONS. (S. L. Dixon, J. Doody, & K. Paffenroth, Eds.), Augustine and Psychology. Lanham, MD, USA: Lexington Books.
Dixon, S. L. (2013). Ethics. Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Heidelberg, Germany: Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions.
Dixon, S. L. (1999). Augustine: The Scattered and Gathered Self. St. Louis, MO, United States : Chalice Press.

Presentations

Dixon, S. L. (2018). Response to Keynote: The Demands of the Day: Reason, Affection, and the Ethics of Education After Truth, by Thomas Carlson. Re-Envisioning Religious Studies as a Global Discipline. Denver, CO: Department of Religious Studies, University of Denver.
Dixon, S. L. (2017). Archetypal Patterns and the Right-to-Life / Pro-Choice Movements. C.G. Jung Society of Colorado monthly meeting. Denver, CO: C.G. Jung Society of Colorado .
Dixon, S. L. (2016). Expansive Moral Psychologies of the Early 21st Century and Some Cautions for the Scholars of Religion who Consult Them. Regional Meetings. Denver, CO: American Academy of Religion/Society for Biblical Literature.
Dixon, S. L. (2015). Religion and Consolation in Moral Commitments . Regional Meeting. Omaha, NE: Rocky Mountain/Great Plains Region of the American Academy of Religion.
Dixon, S. L. (2011). Examining Religion in a Life of Commitment to a Morally Controversial Cause. Cultivating Morality. Nanjing, China: Association for Moral Education.