Theistic Relational Spirituality: Development, Dynamics, Health, and Transformation

Davis, Edward B., Granqvist, Pehr and Sharp, Carissa A. (2018) Theistic Relational Spirituality: Development, Dynamics, Health, and Transformation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 13 (4). pp. 401-415. ISSN 1943-1562

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Abstract

Most of the world’s population identify as religious or spiritual, and most religiously affiliated believers identify with one of the world’s major monotheistic traditions: Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Within each of these traditions, especially Christianity, one important aspect of many believers’ religion/spirituality is how they view and relate with God. The purpose of this paper is to describe a model of theistic relational spirituality (i.e., the ways monotheistic believers view and relate with God) that integrates theory and research from the fields of psychology, attachment, social cognition, and interpersonal neurobiology. We argue that theistic relational spirituality is comprised of two main types of God representations: doctrinal (primarily explicit and affect-light) and experiential (primarily implicit and affect-laden) representations. From an attachment perspective, we discuss the development and dynamics (e.g., context-dependence) of these God representations. We propose that doctrinal–experiential congruence forms the basis of a healthy theistic relational spirituality, when it is contextually adaptive, consistent across time and situations, and aligned with the theistic believer’s behaviors. We also delineate potentially adaptive transformation of less healthy forms of theistic relational spirituality. Lastly, we discuss ways in which this model of theistic relational spirituality might direct future research.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	©American Psychological Association, 2018. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/rel/index.aspx
Divisions:	Research Centres > Centre for Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society
Depositing User:	Ms Hazel Barham
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2018 09:58
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2022 11:07
URI:	https://newman.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17230

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