Pub Date : 2021-12-16DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341424
T. Cinjee, H. Schaap-Jonker
In this study, we examine which narratives were put forward by key figures of the Dutch reformed pietist community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse sermons and news articles from the period March–November 2020. We find, as expected, a dominant narrative of COVID-19 as God’s judgment, a calling to repentance and an event which emphasizes the need for prayer. Although the pandemic was seen as a call by God, the systematic origin of the virus (God/Satan/natural phenomena) remained rather ambiguous. More often it was stated that ‘everything falls under His providence’. The earthly origin of the virus remained mostly unaddressed, as well as eschatological interpretations, contrary to our expectations. We conclude that the main narrative is a general message of repentance, rather than a concrete theological application to the dynamic of the virus, its origins and its subsequent spread. In some cases, virus ‘jargon’ even was used as a tool just to further accentuate general tendencies of reformed pietist theology.
{"title":"‘This is a Call of God … or is it?’: Narratives about Humans, God and Eschatology in the Dutch Reformed Pietist Community during the COVID-19 Outbreak","authors":"T. Cinjee, H. Schaap-Jonker","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341424","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this study, we examine which narratives were put forward by key figures of the Dutch reformed pietist community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse sermons and news articles from the period March–November 2020. We find, as expected, a dominant narrative of COVID-19 as God’s judgment, a calling to repentance and an event which emphasizes the need for prayer. Although the pandemic was seen as a call by God, the systematic origin of the virus (God/Satan/natural phenomena) remained rather ambiguous. More often it was stated that ‘everything falls under His providence’. The earthly origin of the virus remained mostly unaddressed, as well as eschatological interpretations, contrary to our expectations. We conclude that the main narrative is a general message of repentance, rather than a concrete theological application to the dynamic of the virus, its origins and its subsequent spread. In some cases, virus ‘jargon’ even was used as a tool just to further accentuate general tendencies of reformed pietist theology.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64971627","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 : 2021-11-04DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341418
J. Lampe, I. Noth, H. Znoj
This paper presents the German adaptation and validation of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSSS) (Exline et al. 2014). Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles consist of inner conflicts regarding supernatural, interpersonal and intrapersonal concerns, which in the RSSS are categorized into six struggles: Divine, Demonic, Doubt, Interpersonal, Moral and Ultimate Meaning. The prevalence of these as well as mental health correlates and associations with centrality of religiosity were explored in a sample of 1359 German-speaking participants, primarily university students from Switzerland. Inner r/s struggles have primarily been studied in samples from the United States, and data are lacking for more secular societies such as Switzerland, where these struggles are experienced as well. For the first time, the RSSS was translated into and administered in the German language and its six-factor structure confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis.
{"title":"Religious and Spiritual Struggles in a German-Speaking Sample: a Validation Study","authors":"J. Lampe, I. Noth, H. Znoj","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341418","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper presents the German adaptation and validation of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSSS) (Exline et al. 2014). Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles consist of inner conflicts regarding supernatural, interpersonal and intrapersonal concerns, which in the RSSS are categorized into six struggles: Divine, Demonic, Doubt, Interpersonal, Moral and Ultimate Meaning. The prevalence of these as well as mental health correlates and associations with centrality of religiosity were explored in a sample of 1359 German-speaking participants, primarily university students from Switzerland. Inner r/s struggles have primarily been studied in samples from the United States, and data are lacking for more secular societies such as Switzerland, where these struggles are experienced as well. For the first time, the RSSS was translated into and administered in the German language and its six-factor structure confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43200571","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 : 2021-11-04DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341419
Rito Baring, Jeramie Molino, Stephen Reysen
Responding to emerging ecotheologies, we articulated a new environmental construct distinct from previous environmental measures which largely follow developmental models. In the present study we developed and reviewed the psychometric properties of the Christian Environmentalism Scale (CES) initially in three dimensions from 970 youth participants in the Philippines. Study design included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for data reduction and best fit model analysis. CES is a unidimensional 15-item measure with a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .95) score and adequate results for best fit model. CES had significant associations with pro-environment and religious attitude scales indicating initial evidence of convergent validity.
{"title":"The Development and Validation of the Christian Environmentalism Scale (CES) from a Philippine Sample","authors":"Rito Baring, Jeramie Molino, Stephen Reysen","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341419","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Responding to emerging ecotheologies, we articulated a new environmental construct distinct from previous environmental measures which largely follow developmental models. In the present study we developed and reviewed the psychometric properties of the Christian Environmentalism Scale (CES) initially in three dimensions from 970 youth participants in the Philippines. Study design included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for data reduction and best fit model analysis. CES is a unidimensional 15-item measure with a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .95) score and adequate results for best fit model. CES had significant associations with pro-environment and religious attitude scales indicating initial evidence of convergent validity.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47835834","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 : 2021-10-29DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341421
Andrew McKinnon
This paper contributes to the emerging debate and revaluation of the growth and membership of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Building on literature which has shown that the Church is unlikely to have nearly the membership of more than 18 million that it usually claims, this paper considers evidence of conversion to and defection from Anglican identification in Nigeria. The analysis uses data from the Pew Research Centre Tolerance and Conflict survey (2010), the only high quality nationally representative survey that asks about religious identification in which the respondent was raised and their current identification. It examines converts to Anglican identities in Nigeria, as well as the adopted identities of those who leave Anglicanism behind them. The study finds evidence of a net loss, primarily to Pentecostalism. This lends added weight to the argument that the growth of the Church of Nigeria in the past few decades has been primarily through natural increase (surplus of births over deaths) and not from converts, which are a net loss to the church.
{"title":"Growth of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion): Fishing for Converts, but Are There Holes in the Net?","authors":"Andrew McKinnon","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341421","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper contributes to the emerging debate and revaluation of the growth and membership of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Building on literature which has shown that the Church is unlikely to have nearly the membership of more than 18 million that it usually claims, this paper considers evidence of conversion to and defection from Anglican identification in Nigeria. The analysis uses data from the Pew Research Centre Tolerance and Conflict survey (2010), the only high quality nationally representative survey that asks about religious identification in which the respondent was raised and their current identification. It examines converts to Anglican identities in Nigeria, as well as the adopted identities of those who leave Anglicanism behind them. The study finds evidence of a net loss, primarily to Pentecostalism. This lends added weight to the argument that the growth of the Church of Nigeria in the past few decades has been primarily through natural increase (surplus of births over deaths) and not from converts, which are a net loss to the church.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41320807","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 : 2021-10-28DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341420
Leslie J. Francis, A. Village
A major consequence of the pandemic for the Church of England was the decision of the Archbishops on 24 March 2020 to prevent the use of churches (even for the broadcasting of services by the clergy), and the consequent sudden trajectory into online worship streamed by clergy from their homes. On Easter Sunday the Archbishop of Canterbury exemplified the challenge confronting Anglican clergy by presiding for the nation from his kitchen table. This sudden change to online services may have highlighted differences in eucharistic practice within the Church of England, differentiating between those shaped in the Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, and Evangelical traditions. This paper tests the thesis that during the initial days of lockdown this blessed sacrament of unity also embraced rich diversity among loyal Anglicans. Data provided by 3,286 laity and 1,353 clergy from the Coronavirus, Church & You Survey lend support for this thesis.
疫情对英国圣公会造成的一个主要后果是，大主教们于2020年3月24日决定禁止使用教堂(即使是神职人员广播服务)，由此导致神职人员突然在家中进行在线礼拜。在复活节的周日，坎特伯雷大主教(Archbishop of Canterbury)在餐桌上主持国家事务，体现了圣公会神职人员面临的挑战。在线服务的突然转变可能凸显了英国国教内部圣餐仪式的差异，区分了英国天主教、广教会和福音派传统的圣餐仪式。本文对以下论点进行了验证:在封锁的最初几天里，这一神圣的团结圣礼在忠诚的英国国教教徒中也包含了丰富的多样性。来自冠状病毒，教会和你调查的3286名俗人和1353名神职人员提供的数据为本文提供了支持。
{"title":"This Blessed Sacrament of Unity? Holy Communion, the Pandemic, and the Church of England","authors":"Leslie J. Francis, A. Village","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341420","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341420","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000A major consequence of the pandemic for the Church of England was the decision of the Archbishops on 24 March 2020 to prevent the use of churches (even for the broadcasting of services by the clergy), and the consequent sudden trajectory into online worship streamed by clergy from their homes. On Easter Sunday the Archbishop of Canterbury exemplified the challenge confronting Anglican clergy by presiding for the nation from his kitchen table. This sudden change to online services may have highlighted differences in eucharistic practice within the Church of England, differentiating between those shaped in the Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, and Evangelical traditions. This paper tests the thesis that during the initial days of lockdown this blessed sacrament of unity also embraced rich diversity among loyal Anglicans. Data provided by 3,286 laity and 1,353 clergy from the Coronavirus, Church & You Survey lend support for this thesis.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42649299","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 : 2021-10-28DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341422
Ulrich Riegel, Alexander Unser
In times of disaster, religion is said to be a powerful resource of meaning-focused coping. If offers motifs, symbols, and stories to reappraise situations and thereby ascribe meaning to them. Aside from religion, in modern times secular resources are feasible for meaning making during disaster as well. Empirical instruments that assess both religious and secular types of meaning-focused coping, however, are not available. Relevant instruments focus exclusively on either religious or secular coping. This paper addresses this desideratum by supplementing the RCOPE-scales of reappraisal with relevant scales of secular reappraisal. Three scales – Trust in Science, Consequences of Lifestyle, and Reappraisal of Science’s Power – have been constructed and tested on a sample of university students and staff members coping with the Corona pandemic. CFA shows a satisfactory fit for the supplementing instrument when Trust in Science is removed from the analysis. Correlation analysis with scales of religiosity (Centrality of Religiosity and Post-Critical Belief) indicates a good external validity of the new instrument. In consequence, the two supplements of Consequences of Lifestyle and Reappraisal of Science’s Power facilitate assessment of secular meaning-focused coping aside with relevant religious coping, while the Trust in Science Reappraisal scale needs further development.
{"title":"Religious and Secular Coping Strategies of Reappraisal","authors":"Ulrich Riegel, Alexander Unser","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341422","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341422","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In times of disaster, religion is said to be a powerful resource of meaning-focused coping. If offers motifs, symbols, and stories to reappraise situations and thereby ascribe meaning to them. Aside from religion, in modern times secular resources are feasible for meaning making during disaster as well. Empirical instruments that assess both religious and secular types of meaning-focused coping, however, are not available. Relevant instruments focus exclusively on either religious or secular coping. This paper addresses this desideratum by supplementing the RCOPE-scales of reappraisal with relevant scales of secular reappraisal. Three scales – Trust in Science, Consequences of Lifestyle, and Reappraisal of Science’s Power – have been constructed and tested on a sample of university students and staff members coping with the Corona pandemic. CFA shows a satisfactory fit for the supplementing instrument when Trust in Science is removed from the analysis. Correlation analysis with scales of religiosity (Centrality of Religiosity and Post-Critical Belief) indicates a good external validity of the new instrument. In consequence, the two supplements of Consequences of Lifestyle and Reappraisal of Science’s Power facilitate assessment of secular meaning-focused coping aside with relevant religious coping, while the Trust in Science Reappraisal scale needs further development.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45176538","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 : 2021-10-28DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341423
A. Village, L. Francis
This paper reports on the effect of personal, psychological, social, and theological factors in shaping attitudes toward church buildings, the lockup of churches, and the trajectory into virtual church among 4,374 clergy and lay people from the Church of England during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Data from an online survey were used to create three scales, Pro Church Buildings, Anti Church Lockup, and Pro Virtual Church, which were shown to have adequate internal consistency reliability. Five sets of predictor variables were tested using hierarchical multiple regression: personal factors (sex and age), psychological factors (psychological type scores), social location (ordination status, education, geographic location), theological stance (modern versus traditional worship, liberal versus conservative doctrinal belief, liberal versus conservative views on morality), and Church tradition (Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, Evangelical, and Charismaticism). The three scales were predicted by slightly different sets of variables, but in each case personal factors and psychological factors retained some predictive power after controlling for other sorts of factors. The results suggest that those most likely to embrace a future with a significant role for church life online are women (rather than men), the middle-aged (rather than younger or older people), intuitive (rather than sensing) and feeling (rather than thinking) psychological types, clergy (rather than laity), those living outside the inner cities, those who prefer modern (rather than traditional) forms of worship, those with more liberal (rather than conservative) views on doctrine and morality, and those who embrace Evangelical and Charismatic (rather than Anglo-Catholic) church traditions.
{"title":"Shaping Attitudes toward Church in a Time of Coronavirus: Exploring the Effects of Personal, Psychological, Social, and Theological Factors among Church of England Clergy and Laity","authors":"A. Village, L. Francis","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341423","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper reports on the effect of personal, psychological, social, and theological factors in shaping attitudes toward church buildings, the lockup of churches, and the trajectory into virtual church among 4,374 clergy and lay people from the Church of England during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Data from an online survey were used to create three scales, Pro Church Buildings, Anti Church Lockup, and Pro Virtual Church, which were shown to have adequate internal consistency reliability. Five sets of predictor variables were tested using hierarchical multiple regression: personal factors (sex and age), psychological factors (psychological type scores), social location (ordination status, education, geographic location), theological stance (modern versus traditional worship, liberal versus conservative doctrinal belief, liberal versus conservative views on morality), and Church tradition (Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, Evangelical, and Charismaticism). The three scales were predicted by slightly different sets of variables, but in each case personal factors and psychological factors retained some predictive power after controlling for other sorts of factors. The results suggest that those most likely to embrace a future with a significant role for church life online are women (rather than men), the middle-aged (rather than younger or older people), intuitive (rather than sensing) and feeling (rather than thinking) psychological types, clergy (rather than laity), those living outside the inner cities, those who prefer modern (rather than traditional) forms of worship, those with more liberal (rather than conservative) views on doctrine and morality, and those who embrace Evangelical and Charismatic (rather than Anglo-Catholic) church traditions.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44139860","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 : 2021-09-20DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341417
Mariia Alekseevskaia
This paper presents a case study of the dialogue groups organized by the members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) to hold dialogue with Muslims in Canada. Being profoundly influenced by Dutch neo-Calvinist theology, members of CRCNA promote an idea of confessional plurality, which has resulted in building relationships with Muslim communities. This study is based on fifteen interviews with participants of several Reformed Christian-Muslim groups, a content analysis of mass and social media and a variety of theological documents. Our findings show that these interfaith meetings help develop cohesive neighbourhoods and communities which facilitate new Muslim immigrants’ settlement and adjustment in Canada. This paper also points out the opportunities for further fruitful interfaith cooperation, both in the social and political spheres. However, some of the research participants are challenged with distinguishing missionary work and dialogue, which might undermine the work of the community in building bridges between Reformed Christians and Muslims.
{"title":"Canadian Calvinists Help to Overcome Intolerance against Muslims: Dutch Reformed Theology behind a Pluralist Worldview","authors":"Mariia Alekseevskaia","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341417","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341417","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper presents a case study of the dialogue groups organized by the members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) to hold dialogue with Muslims in Canada. Being profoundly influenced by Dutch neo-Calvinist theology, members of CRCNA promote an idea of confessional plurality, which has resulted in building relationships with Muslim communities. This study is based on fifteen interviews with participants of several Reformed Christian-Muslim groups, a content analysis of mass and social media and a variety of theological documents. Our findings show that these interfaith meetings help develop cohesive neighbourhoods and communities which facilitate new Muslim immigrants’ settlement and adjustment in Canada. This paper also points out the opportunities for further fruitful interfaith cooperation, both in the social and political spheres. However, some of the research participants are challenged with distinguishing missionary work and dialogue, which might undermine the work of the community in building bridges between Reformed Christians and Muslims.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43571897","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 : 2021-06-25DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341416
Tania ap Siôn
State-maintained Christian ethos schools are a prominent part of the educational landscape of England and Wales, and a growing body of empirical research has sought to access, study and interpret the voices of their students in order to contribute to a fuller understanding of life within these schools and their place in contemporary Britain. As part of this endeavour, this study focuses on what may be learnt from students’ prayer in a joint Anglican and Catholic Christian ethos secondary school. Following the identification of the school prayer board and intercessory prayers within school Eucharists as offering a significant contribution to the Christian ethos school, this study set out to explore and evaluate these prayer requests composed by students. Taking a sample of 212 prayers, an established analytic framework for the analysis and classification of intercessory prayer (the apSAFIP) was employed and other notable characteristics identified (including prayer type, ‘proclamations’, drawings, liturgical language and style). The findings draw attention to the distinctive profile of the prayer requests offered within the school in terms of the issues for which prayers are offered, and the religious language, expressions, and themes that shape these prayers. The study concludes by appraising the performance of the apSAFIP in this new context and by considering what may be learnt from these themes and linguistic forms about the spiritual and religious lives of the students.
{"title":"Insights from Adolescents’ Prayer Requests within a Christian Ethos School: A Qualitative Perspective","authors":"Tania ap Siôn","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341416","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000State-maintained Christian ethos schools are a prominent part of the educational landscape of England and Wales, and a growing body of empirical research has sought to access, study and interpret the voices of their students in order to contribute to a fuller understanding of life within these schools and their place in contemporary Britain. As part of this endeavour, this study focuses on what may be learnt from students’ prayer in a joint Anglican and Catholic Christian ethos secondary school. Following the identification of the school prayer board and intercessory prayers within school Eucharists as offering a significant contribution to the Christian ethos school, this study set out to explore and evaluate these prayer requests composed by students. Taking a sample of 212 prayers, an established analytic framework for the analysis and classification of intercessory prayer (the apSAFIP) was employed and other notable characteristics identified (including prayer type, ‘proclamations’, drawings, liturgical language and style). The findings draw attention to the distinctive profile of the prayer requests offered within the school in terms of the issues for which prayers are offered, and the religious language, expressions, and themes that shape these prayers. The study concludes by appraising the performance of the apSAFIP in this new context and by considering what may be learnt from these themes and linguistic forms about the spiritual and religious lives of the students.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42716988","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 : 2021-02-04DOI: 10.1163/15709256-12341414
P. Hannikainen
An expanding body of research connects religiosity/spirituality (later R/S) with human well-being and health. While psychological and medical research lacks a common theoretical or theological framework, these dimensions are measured by instruments with a wide variation in quality. As the religious landscapes in Western societies are becoming increasingly plural and complex, the need for developing our understanding and assessment of the role of R/S in human health and well-being is as important as ever. This study, based on quantitative data (N = 529) from members of a church renewal oriented network in the Lutheran majority Church in Finland, measures the role of R/S in the subjective well-being of the participants through a multi-dimensional framework. While exploring Ellison’s Spiritual Well-being Scale (1983), the study expands its scope to a more multi-dimensional approach to religion, spirituality and well-being. The results reveal that religious beliefs and practices do not contribute to the level of subjective well-being in the lives of the participants as much as the way in which these beliefs and practices are lived out and actualized in social contexts. The study identified several sources of both well-being and ill-being in the participants’ lives. The article contributes to the terms of measuring the various ways in which R/S are connected to human well-being.
{"title":"Religion, Spirituality, Well-Being, and Ill-Being in a Church-Renewal Movement: The Case of Finland","authors":"P. Hannikainen","doi":"10.1163/15709256-12341414","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15709256-12341414","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000An expanding body of research connects religiosity/spirituality (later R/S) with human well-being and health. While psychological and medical research lacks a common theoretical or theological framework, these dimensions are measured by instruments with a wide variation in quality. As the religious landscapes in Western societies are becoming increasingly plural and complex, the need for developing our understanding and assessment of the role of R/S in human health and well-being is as important as ever. This study, based on quantitative data (N = 529) from members of a church renewal oriented network in the Lutheran majority Church in Finland, measures the role of R/S in the subjective well-being of the participants through a multi-dimensional framework. While exploring Ellison’s Spiritual Well-being Scale (1983), the study expands its scope to a more multi-dimensional approach to religion, spirituality and well-being. The results reveal that religious beliefs and practices do not contribute to the level of subjective well-being in the lives of the participants as much as the way in which these beliefs and practices are lived out and actualized in social contexts. The study identified several sources of both well-being and ill-being in the participants’ lives. The article contributes to the terms of measuring the various ways in which R/S are connected to human well-being.","PeriodicalId":42786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Empirical Theology","volume":"1 1","pages":"1-27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43588438","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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