Pub Date : 2023-03-03DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20231142
Rosa Huotari
Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2020–2021, this paper investigates how people experiencing poverty and social exclusion process their collective in-group/ out-group identity as the urban ‘others’ in faith-based food assistance in Finland. By building on the concept of collective identity and employing narrative construction, the analysis shows that not only does perceived social exclusion function as a stigmatizing self-category and symbolic boundary maker but also as a resource for resistance, especially in the theological accounts of the informants. When looking through the lenses of urban theology, the informants do not just tell a story about themselves, but they do theology as well. All in all, the others may be excluded from society and yet included in Spirit.
{"title":"Social Exclusion as Spiritual Inclusion","authors":"Rosa Huotari","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20231142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20231142","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2020–2021, this paper investigates how people experiencing poverty and social exclusion process their collective in-group/ out-group identity as the urban ‘others’ in faith-based food assistance in Finland. By building on the concept of collective identity and employing narrative construction, the analysis shows that not only does perceived social exclusion function as a stigmatizing self-category and symbolic boundary maker but also as a resource for resistance, especially in the theological accounts of the informants. When looking through the lenses of urban theology, the informants do not just tell a story about themselves, but they do theology as well. All in all, the others may be excluded from society and yet included in Spirit.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48879825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-23DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20231136
Heidi Toivanen
Several recent studies have examined religious biographies, i.e. individual religious trajectories. However, little research has been conducted on the relevance of single life events in religious biographies, such as religious rites of passage. One such rite of passage, confirmation training, has preserved its popularity in Finland despite declining church membership. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the relevance of Finnish confirmation training in religious biographies. The data comprise 15 multigenerational family interviews (N = 54) conducted in 2019–2022. The study is part of an international research investigating religious transmission over generations. The findings indicate that confirmation training initiates a socialization process in relation to areas of faith, religious community, family heritage and cultural heritage. These relations comprise three types of movement: attachment, distancing, and stability/ irrelevance. The results demonstrate the complexity and uniqueness of religious biographies as individuals create distinctive religious trajectories and transitions.
{"title":"Finnish Confirmation Training in Religious Biographies","authors":"Heidi Toivanen","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20231136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20231136","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Several recent studies have examined religious biographies, i.e. individual religious trajectories. However, little research has been conducted on the relevance of single life events in religious biographies, such as religious rites of passage. One such rite of passage, confirmation training, has preserved its popularity in Finland despite declining church membership. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the relevance of Finnish confirmation training in religious biographies. The data comprise 15 multigenerational family interviews (N = 54) conducted in 2019–2022. The study is part of an international research investigating religious transmission over generations. The findings indicate that confirmation training initiates a socialization process in relation to areas of faith, religious community, family heritage and cultural heritage. These relations comprise three types of movement: attachment, distancing, and stability/ irrelevance. The results demonstrate the complexity and uniqueness of religious biographies as individuals create distinctive religious trajectories and transitions.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46794215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221435
Mark J. Cartledge
It is clear that the role of the internet is ubiquitous in everyday life. With smart phones almost everyone can access the internet 24/7 and use it for emails, social network activity, searching for information and navigation when driving a car to a new destination. It is also the case that the online world intersects directly with and is embedded in the off-line world of our everyday lives. Almost all forms of religion have this intersection and function with it as a matter of course. For Christians this has meant that ecclesial dimensions of spiritual life have also been taken online, or that the online dimensions have intersected with the everyday ecclesial life of most if not all Christians. The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how easily it was for most church congregations to arrange for services to be live-streamed online, supported by social media. Indeed, these new types of services attracted many visitors during the various lockdowns and a number of regular church-goers decided that they preferred the online world to the concrete one they were previously familiar. These recent changes in religious life invite reflection from the perspective of empirical theology. In particular, it may be asked how might an empirical approach to theology develop in relation to virtual ethnography or netnography? There is an emerging body of methodological literature that embraces the study of online or digital communities, otherwise known as netnography (Boellstorff et al, 2012; Hine, 2000, 2015; Kozinets, 2013, 2020; Pink et al, 2016), but, so far, there is a very limited application of empirical studies from a theological perspective (although see Hutchings, 2017; Sutinen and Cooper, 2021). Therefore, this paper explores the question: is there a distinctly empirical-theological approach to netnography? This question will be addressed in this exploratory paper and a methodological proposal suggested as part of the discussion.
{"title":"Empirical Theology as Theological Netnography: Methodological Considerations","authors":"Mark J. Cartledge","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221435","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000It is clear that the role of the internet is ubiquitous in everyday life. With smart phones almost everyone can access the internet 24/7 and use it for emails, social network activity, searching for information and navigation when driving a car to a new destination. It is also the case that the online world intersects directly with and is embedded in the off-line world of our everyday lives. Almost all forms of religion have this intersection and function with it as a matter of course. For Christians this has meant that ecclesial dimensions of spiritual life have also been taken online, or that the online dimensions have intersected with the everyday ecclesial life of most if not all Christians. The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how easily it was for most church congregations to arrange for services to be live-streamed online, supported by social media. Indeed, these new types of services attracted many visitors during the various lockdowns and a number of regular church-goers decided that they preferred the online world to the concrete one they were previously familiar. These recent changes in religious life invite reflection from the perspective of empirical theology. In particular, it may be asked how might an empirical approach to theology develop in relation to virtual ethnography or netnography? There is an emerging body of methodological literature that embraces the study of online or digital communities, otherwise known as netnography (Boellstorff et al, 2012; Hine, 2000, 2015; Kozinets, 2013, 2020; Pink et al, 2016), but, so far, there is a very limited application of empirical studies from a theological perspective (although see Hutchings, 2017; Sutinen and Cooper, 2021). Therefore, this paper explores the question: is there a distinctly empirical-theological approach to netnography? This question will be addressed in this exploratory paper and a methodological proposal suggested as part of the discussion.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44130378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-05DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221434
S. Paas, S. Stoppels, K. Zwijze-Koning
Missiology has always been inspired by soteriology, that is, Christian views of salvation. However, little is known about the actual soteriological beliefs of missionary practitioners. This article is an explorative qualitative study of soteriological beliefs among Dutch Protestant ministers who work in pioneer settings (N=20) and established churches (N=40). Our research shows that, contrary to what might be expected, these two groups (termed ‘pioneers’ and ‘pastors’) are very much alike with regard to their soteriological beliefs. The majority are convinced of the uniqueness of Jesus, and the connection of salvation with God and/or Jesus – even if this salvation is often expressed in immanent terms. Only two differences have been found between pastors and pioneers. Pioneers experience more challenges in communicating the uniqueness of Christianity and they are more likely to have traditional views of ‘eternal lostness’.
{"title":"Ministers on Salvation: Soteriological Views of Pioneers and Pastors in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands","authors":"S. Paas, S. Stoppels, K. Zwijze-Koning","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221434","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Missiology has always been inspired by soteriology, that is, Christian views of salvation. However, little is known about the actual soteriological beliefs of missionary practitioners. This article is an explorative qualitative study of soteriological beliefs among Dutch Protestant ministers who work in pioneer settings (N=20) and established churches (N=40). Our research shows that, contrary to what might be expected, these two groups (termed ‘pioneers’ and ‘pastors’) are very much alike with regard to their soteriological beliefs. The majority are convinced of the uniqueness of Jesus, and the connection of salvation with God and/or Jesus – even if this salvation is often expressed in immanent terms. Only two differences have been found between pastors and pioneers. Pioneers experience more challenges in communicating the uniqueness of Christianity and they are more likely to have traditional views of ‘eternal lostness’.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43002115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-28DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221433
Annette Haussmann
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on mental health in general and on care professionals in particular. Studies have shown that professional pastoral caregivers are challenged concerning stabilizing their mental health and coping with stress experiences. Spirituality, on the other hand, has been considered as a helpful coping resource. This study examines professional pastoral caregivers in various contexts of hospitals, congregations, old people’s homes or schools during the second lockdown in Germany. Results show the importance of spirituality as a resource, with an overall high centrality of religiosity, high daily spiritual experience and low spiritual dryness, but also reveal various stress factors with which pastoral caregivers have to deal. However, associations between work-related distress, spiritual dryness, centrality of religiosity and spiritual experience are displayed and discussed. Spiritual dryness correlates positively with work-related distress, whereas daily spiritual experience and centrality of religiosity correlates negatively. Possibilities of further support for those offering pastoral care during the pandemic and beyond are presented.
{"title":"Spirituality of Professional Pastoral Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Distress, Resources, and Consequences","authors":"Annette Haussmann","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221433","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on mental health in general and on care professionals in particular. Studies have shown that professional pastoral caregivers are challenged concerning stabilizing their mental health and coping with stress experiences. Spirituality, on the other hand, has been considered as a helpful coping resource. This study examines professional pastoral caregivers in various contexts of hospitals, congregations, old people’s homes or schools during the second lockdown in Germany. Results show the importance of spirituality as a resource, with an overall high centrality of religiosity, high daily spiritual experience and low spiritual dryness, but also reveal various stress factors with which pastoral caregivers have to deal. However, associations between work-related distress, spiritual dryness, centrality of religiosity and spiritual experience are displayed and discussed. Spiritual dryness correlates positively with work-related distress, whereas daily spiritual experience and centrality of religiosity correlates negatively. Possibilities of further support for those offering pastoral care during the pandemic and beyond are presented.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42635984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-11DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221431
D. Pollefeyt, Fons van Rooij, J. Bouwens
Educational Charismic traditions, like Marist Education in the Champagnat tradition, among many other charisms, are different ways of ‘enfleshing’ and ‘flavouring’ the Gospel of Christ. They are about the incarnation of the Christian message, a particular expression of what it means to be Christian within the context of one’s own time, place and culture. What are the characteristics, and particular emphases, of such ‘enfleshments’? The Charism Scale is a new empirical survey instrument designed to assist schools to explore the degree to which their foundational charisms exist and the way they take shape. The multi-variate attitude scale is based on five empirically confirmed dimensions to which various educational charismic traditions respond in different ways. It is ‘in the mix’ that the particularities of each charismic tradition emerge. This empirical data enables school communities to identify and strengthen the particular charismic flavour they bring to the Catholicity of the school.
{"title":"The Charism Scale","authors":"D. Pollefeyt, Fons van Rooij, J. Bouwens","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221431","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Educational Charismic traditions, like Marist Education in the Champagnat tradition, among many other charisms, are different ways of ‘enfleshing’ and ‘flavouring’ the Gospel of Christ. They are about the incarnation of the Christian message, a particular expression of what it means to be Christian within the context of one’s own time, place and culture. What are the characteristics, and particular emphases, of such ‘enfleshments’? The Charism Scale is a new empirical survey instrument designed to assist schools to explore the degree to which their foundational charisms exist and the way they take shape. The multi-variate attitude scale is based on five empirically confirmed dimensions to which various educational charismic traditions respond in different ways. It is ‘in the mix’ that the particularities of each charismic tradition emerge. This empirical data enables school communities to identify and strengthen the particular charismic flavour they bring to the Catholicity of the school.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45419872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-04DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221432
Leslie J. Francis, D. Walker, A. Village
This study explores the connection between Christianity and environmental concern among a sample of 23,714 13- to 15-year-old students (who self-identify as Christian or self-identify as no religion) employing three scales of Attitude toward Christianity, Conservative Christian Belief, and Environmental Concern and Behaviour, together with measures of personality, church attendance, and personal prayer. The key findings are that: religious behaviours, church attendance and personal prayer, are significant predictors, with churchgoing and praying students holding higher levels of environmental concern and behaviour; religious affect is more significant than religious behaviours, with a positive attitude toward Christianity accounting for greater variance than churchgoing and prayer in predicting higher levels of environmental concern and behaviour; conservative Christian belief is associated with lower levels of environmental concern and behaviour (after taking into account religious practice and religious affect); and nominal Christian affiliation is associated with lower levels of environmental concern and behaviour.
{"title":"Christianity, Personality and Environmental Concern among 13- to 15-year-old Students in England and Wales","authors":"Leslie J. Francis, D. Walker, A. Village","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221432","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study explores the connection between Christianity and environmental concern among a sample of 23,714 13- to 15-year-old students (who self-identify as Christian or self-identify as no religion) employing three scales of Attitude toward Christianity, Conservative Christian Belief, and Environmental Concern and Behaviour, together with measures of personality, church attendance, and personal prayer. The key findings are that: religious behaviours, church attendance and personal prayer, are significant predictors, with churchgoing and praying students holding higher levels of environmental concern and behaviour; religious affect is more significant than religious behaviours, with a positive attitude toward Christianity accounting for greater variance than churchgoing and prayer in predicting higher levels of environmental concern and behaviour; conservative Christian belief is associated with lower levels of environmental concern and behaviour (after taking into account religious practice and religious affect); and nominal Christian affiliation is associated with lower levels of environmental concern and behaviour.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48379387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-15DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221430
A. Village
Attitude toward virtual communion was assessed among 3,300 Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Free Church clergy and laity during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK in 2021. A six-item unidimensional scale (Scale of Attitude Toward Virtual Communion, SATVC) assessed attitude related to receiving communion during online services, the necessity of priests for consecration and lay presidency of communion at home. Church tradition predicted attitude in ways that were in line with historical understandings of the Eucharist and ecclesial debates about the necessity of priests to preside over ritual. Within traditions, other factors operated in different ways, producing a complex web of interactions. Older people were more positive about virtual communion than younger ones, but mainly in Catholic traditions. Clergy were more negative in most traditions except Free Church. Having a generally conservative doctrinal stance drove Catholic and Reformed traditions in opposite directions. Liturgical stance predicted SATVC independently of doctrinal stance, and more traditional stance tended to lead to more uniformity, rather than divergence, between traditions.
{"title":"Attitude toward Virtual Communion in Relation to Church Tradition during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom","authors":"A. Village","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221430","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Attitude toward virtual communion was assessed among 3,300 Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Free Church clergy and laity during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK in 2021. A six-item unidimensional scale (Scale of Attitude Toward Virtual Communion, SATVC) assessed attitude related to receiving communion during online services, the necessity of priests for consecration and lay presidency of communion at home. Church tradition predicted attitude in ways that were in line with historical understandings of the Eucharist and ecclesial debates about the necessity of priests to preside over ritual. Within traditions, other factors operated in different ways, producing a complex web of interactions. Older people were more positive about virtual communion than younger ones, but mainly in Catholic traditions. Clergy were more negative in most traditions except Free Church. Having a generally conservative doctrinal stance drove Catholic and Reformed traditions in opposite directions. Liturgical stance predicted SATVC independently of doctrinal stance, and more traditional stance tended to lead to more uniformity, rather than divergence, between traditions.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42723342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-08DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221429
W. Graafland, A. Groenewoud, T. Pleizier, T. Boer
In the past, research was done in the Netherlands among pastors to study their attitudes and experiences regarding euthanasia. Also, the attitudes of protestant believers have been studied, however very superficially. This paper presents the results of a survey among 736 parishioners of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands about their experiences, views, and understanding of euthanasia and about what they expect from their pastor. Two-thirds of the respondents are positive about euthanasia being permissible in the Netherlands, and half of them consider euthanasia a possibility for themselves. A parishioner’s theological subdenomination (orthodox, evangelical, middle-orthodox, liberal) is related significantly to their views about euthanasia and pastoral care. Most parishioners value a central role for their pastor at the end of their lives, including those who would possibly consider euthanasia. The relevance of this survey is that a better insight in the parishioners’ wishes about euthanasia can improve the practice of pastoral care at the end of life.
{"title":"Protestant Parishioners, Their Pastors, and Euthanasia","authors":"W. Graafland, A. Groenewoud, T. Pleizier, T. Boer","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221429","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In the past, research was done in the Netherlands among pastors to study their attitudes and experiences regarding euthanasia. Also, the attitudes of protestant believers have been studied, however very superficially. This paper presents the results of a survey among 736 parishioners of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands about their experiences, views, and understanding of euthanasia and about what they expect from their pastor. Two-thirds of the respondents are positive about euthanasia being permissible in the Netherlands, and half of them consider euthanasia a possibility for themselves. A parishioner’s theological subdenomination (orthodox, evangelical, middle-orthodox, liberal) is related significantly to their views about euthanasia and pastoral care. Most parishioners value a central role for their pastor at the end of their lives, including those who would possibly consider euthanasia. The relevance of this survey is that a better insight in the parishioners’ wishes about euthanasia can improve the practice of pastoral care at the end of life.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45518575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-11DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221428
Ulrich Riegel, M. Jäckel, T. Faix
In modern Western societies, disaffiliation frequently occurs within the field of religion. To date, many studies have analysed what motivates people to leave religious institutions. However, whether they face internal conflicts during this process has not been intensely studied. Based on Festinger’s concept of cognitive dissonance, this paper re-analyses 27 interviews of persons who left the Catholic Church in the diocese of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 12 out of 27 interviews, such internal conflicts could be reconstructed, indicating that leaving religious institutions is not always an easy process. These conflicts are related to four characteristic core issues evoking dissonant emotions, namely belonging, the social environment, belief, and identity. The analysis also illustrates that disaffiliation not only solves such internal conflicts but sometimes causes new ones. More research is needed to fully understand people’s inner struggles when disaffiliating from religious institutions.
{"title":"Internal Conflict Associated with Disaffiliation from the Roman Catholic Church","authors":"Ulrich Riegel, M. Jäckel, T. Faix","doi":"10.1163/15709256-20221428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-20221428","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In modern Western societies, disaffiliation frequently occurs within the field of religion. To date, many studies have analysed what motivates people to leave religious institutions. However, whether they face internal conflicts during this process has not been intensely studied. Based on Festinger’s concept of cognitive dissonance, this paper re-analyses 27 interviews of persons who left the Catholic Church in the diocese of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 12 out of 27 interviews, such internal conflicts could be reconstructed, indicating that leaving religious institutions is not always an easy process. These conflicts are related to four characteristic core issues evoking dissonant emotions, namely belonging, the social environment, belief, and identity. The analysis also illustrates that disaffiliation not only solves such internal conflicts but sometimes causes new ones. More research is needed to fully understand people’s inner struggles when disaffiliating from religious institutions.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41462243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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