Hjalmar Sundén (1908–1993) was a Swedish psychologist, known for his contributions to the psychology of religion and for his development of "role theory".
Sundén studied in Paris, where he interviewed the French philosopher Henri Bergson. Bergson's philosophy of religion was to become the subject of Sunden's doctorate, after he had studied theology at the University of Uppsala (he received his doctorate in 1940). After receiving his doctorate, Sundén, unable to obtain a university post for some time, taught psychology and religion at various schools in the Stockholm region.
In 1959, Sunden published details of his role theory in Religionen och rollen. This book helped Sundén to obtain a university chair. He was the first person to occupy a Chair in the Psychology of Religion at the University of Uppsala and first person to hold such a post in any Nordic country.
Sundén's role theory states that as people learn from sacred texts, they identify with certain roles in these texts, so that they may begin to see ordinary experience as a religious experience.
Sundén's role theory may be considered a social constructivist approach to religious experience. His approach stands in contrast to essentialist approaches such as the perennial psychology of Robert K.C. Forman.
Sundén's role theory has been influential in the psychology of religion as taught by the Dutch psychologist Jan van der Lans. His student Nicolette Hijweege used Sundén's role theory for PhD-research on conversion among Dutch reformed Christians.[1]
In 1987, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion launched a special issue on Sundén's role theory. An account of his work in the English language was prepared by his Finnish supporters, Holm and Belzen (1995).
Sundén's role theory as applied to mystical experience is discussed by Wulff (2000). Wulff notes a study by Lars (1987), in which people were undergoing Zen training were more likely to report a mystical experience if they had a religious frame of reference. Wulff also notes criticisms of Sunden's role theory, noting how it fails to explain how mystical experience arises in the first place.
Spilka e.a. mention Sundén's role theory as a promising approach for the psychology of religion.[2]