Originally published in 1972, Mind and Belief is not in the philosophy of religion. Basically, it concerns questions in philosophical psychology, and in particular, questions both about what it is to hold something to be the case (to believe something), and also about attributing various psychological characteristics to given individuals (human beings, etc.) and about to which beings such ascriptions are appropriate. It started life as a doctoral thesis and went on to serve in one form or another the major text for a seminar in philosophical psychology at Yale University.

Mitchell Ginsberg received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and taught at Yale and at the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. He was an expert on the subject of emotional trauma. He had also been a teacher in the Thai-Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Tradition since 1975, and authored multiple books in psychology and psycho-spirituality.