Streib, erschienen im Deutschen Pfarrerblatt, Ausgabe: 11 / 2016 "Spiritualität" ist zu einer Art... more Streib, erschienen im Deutschen Pfarrerblatt, Ausgabe: 11 / 2016 "Spiritualität" ist zu einer Art Containerbegriff geworden: er enthält semantisch enorm viel, wird dadurch aber auch unüberschaubar und fast schon unbrauchbar. Heinz Streib ist es gelungen, mittels empirischer Untersuchungen die Semantik von "Spiritualität" zu profilieren und auch auf ihren religions-und kirchenkritischen Bezug hin abzuklopfen. "Viele Menschen sind von etwas ergriffen, was sie unbedingt angeht; aber sie fühlen sich jeder konkreten Religion fern, gerade weil sie die Frage nach dem Sinn ihres Lebens ernst nehmen. Sie glauben, daß ihr tiefstes Anliegen in den vorhandenen Religionen nicht zum Ausdruck gebracht wird, und so lehnen sie die Religion ab "aus Religion"."(1) Dieses Zitat geht auf den Artikel "The Lost Dimension" zurück, den Paul Tillich am 14. Juni 1958 in der Saturday Evening Post, einer amerikanischen Wochenzeitschrift, veröffentlich hat. Freilich spricht Tillich hier nicht von "Spiritualität", sondern von "Religion als Leben in der Dimension der Tiefe". Tillich problematisiert die konkretistische Zerstörung der religiösen Symbole, die eben diese Tiefendimension repräsentieren, sowie deren Präsenz in Kunst, Literatur und Philosophie. Gleichwohl finde ich es angemessen, ein halbes Jahrhundert später an Tillichs Rede von der verlorenen Dimension zu erinnern und daran anzuknüpfen-mit Blick auf die erheblichen Veränderungen in der Semantik im religiösen Feld durch die zunehmende
Keller, B., Klein, C., Swhajor-Biesemann, A., Silver, C. F., Hood, R. W., & Streib, H. (2013). Th... more Keller, B., Klein, C., Swhajor-Biesemann, A., Silver, C. F., Hood, R. W., & Streib, H. (2013). The Semantics of "Spirituality" and Related Self-identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA. Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv für Religionspsychologie, 35, 71-100.
Abstract: The self-identification "spiritual" has gained considerable popularity in the last 30 years. This article focuses on its meanings and connotations in everyday understanding. Do persons identifying themselves as spiritual, as religious, or as neither nor refer to the same concepts, when talking about "spirituality" or "religion"? Does it make a difference whether they live in Germany or in the United States? First analyses from the Bielefeld-Chattanooga Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" are based on the semantic differential approach to comparing self-identified "neither religious nor spiritual", "religious", and "spiritual" persons regarding semantic attributes attached to "religion" and "spirituality". Results show: Regarding "religion," religious persons differ significantly from the spiritual persons. "Spirituality" seems to be something the "neither-nor" group and the religious group agree on. However, additional differentiations become visible from the comparison between the United States and Germany. Implications for the understanding of spiritual/religious self-identifications in the different cultural contexts are discussed.
This paper shows how corpus methods can be usefully employed in the field of psychology of religi... more This paper shows how corpus methods can be usefully employed in the field of psychology of religion. Current international surveys mirror an ongoing transformation in subjective meanings in religious discourse cumulating in the question: What do people actually mean when they describe themselves as spiritual, religious or neither? The paper presents results of a cross-disciplinary study with 1,886 participants in the USA and Germany. The thematic goal is to explore subjective understandings by examining the language use of participants who wrote personal definitions of religion and spirituality. Methodologically, we aim to bring forward the search for new mixed-method approaches in corpus linguistics. For the first time, the study introduces a corpus linguistic approach to empirical studies in the field of psychology of religion and shows how a search for textual patterns can become an integral part within a comprehensive research design which includes further quantitative and qualitative social-empirical instruments.
Streib, H. & Klein, C. (2014). Religious Styles Predict Inter-religious Prejudice: A Study of Ger... more Streib, H. & Klein, C. (2014). Religious Styles Predict Inter-religious Prejudice: A Study of German Adolescents with the Religious Schema Scale. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 24, 151-163.
Abstract: Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of inter-religious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, truth of texts & teachings (ttt), fairness, tolerance & rational choice (ftr) and xenosophia/inter-religious dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS-subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, while ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with inter-religious prejudice. Results of an ANOVA using high agreement on ttt, ftr and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in inter-religious prejudice in relation to religious development.
Keller, B. & Streib, H. (2013). Faith Development, Religious Styles and Biographical Narratives: ... more Keller, B. & Streib, H. (2013). Faith Development, Religious Styles and Biographical Narratives: Methodological Perspectives. Journal of Empirical Theology, 26, 1-21.
Abstract: Narrative study of religious lives has formed part of numerous projects at the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion. An essential instrument in our designs, which mostly combine qualitative and quantitative methods, is the Faith Development Interview (FDI). In response to longstanding criticism its cognitive structural framework has been revised in respect of styles and schemata. The religious styles perspective examines the self as articulated in narratives and associates it with afffectivity and emotion. This article gives an overview of our theoretical and methodological revisions, which take cognizance of current developments in lifespan developmental and clinical psychology such as attachment, mentalization and wisdom. We illustrate the implementation of these advances with a case study from our current study of espiritualityf,1 which we locate in the complex multi-method design, and outline the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data.
Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism ... more Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism and Related World Views. Implicit Religion, 16, 137-155.
Abstract: Mapping the religious field of present-day Western cultures such as America and Europe requires a synopsis of perspectives. There are, on the one hand, classical ways of defining religion in theology, sociology and psychology, and also established sociological models of the religious field; and there are, on the other hand, recent changes in how people on the street implicitly and explicitly understand themselves and behave. Many are reluctant to identify as religious persons, but self-identify as “spiritual” or “spiritual, not religious.” In this text we introduce our conceptualization of religion and of the religious field. Key concepts of religion are transcendence and ultimacy. For structuring the religious field, we attend to the distinction between vertical and horizontal symbolization of transcendence and ultimacy, and to the distinction between institutional mediation and individual immediacy.
1 In Kooperation mit der Breuninger Stiftung. Das Faith Development Interview (FDI) ist ein halbs... more 1 In Kooperation mit der Breuninger Stiftung. Das Faith Development Interview (FDI) ist ein halbstrukturiertes Interview, das in zahlreichen Studien an der Universität Bielefeld zur Erhebung religiöser Biographien eingesetzt wird. Durch Fragen, die die Themen Lebensrückblick, Beziehungen, Werte und Verpflichtungen und Religion/Weltanschauung umfassen, bietet es Raum zur Reflexion über das eigene Leben und dessen existentielle Grundlagen. Das Instrument wird von Untersuchungsteilnehmer/(inne)n gut angenommen und als Möglichkeit der Selbsterforschung geschätzt. Unsere Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass das FDI die Identifizierung sowohl von Ressourcen als auch von pathologischen Tendenzen im Zusammenhang mit Religiosität/Spiritualität erlaubt. Angesichts einer zunehmenden Anerkennung der Bedeutung von Religiosität/Spiritualität für seelische Gesundheit liegt es nah, das FDI als diagnostisches Instrument in psychotherapeutischen Settings zu nutzen. Die Möglichkeiten sowie die Grenzen des FDI werden anhand von Beispielen aus laufenden Untersuchungen diskutiert. Faith Development, Psychotherapie, Spiritualität, Religiosität, Ressource The Faith Development Interview -A method for the exploration of religiosity/ spirituality in psychotherapeutic settings The Faith Development Interview (FDI) is a semi-structured interview which has been used for the exploration of faith biographies in numerous studies at Bielefeld University. By asking questions, which explore the patient's life review, relationships, values and commitments, and religion/worldview, it offers space for reflection on one's life and its existential foundations. Research participants respond to this offer and appreciate it as opportunity to self-exploration. Our research results show that the FDI permits the identification of resources as well as of pathologic tendencies related to religiosity/spirituality. The growing acknowledgment of the importance of religiosity/
Seit den 1990er Jahren wird im deutschen Sprachraum wieder vermehrt zu Themen der Religionspsycho... more Seit den 1990er Jahren wird im deutschen Sprachraum wieder vermehrt zu Themen der Religionspsychologie gearbeitet. Forschungsschwerpunkte sind in dieser Zeit insbesondere die psychoanalytische Auseinandersetzung mit Religiosität, die Untersuchung der Entwicklung von Religiosität über die Lebensspanne, Brüche in der religiösen Biographie (Konversionen und Dekonversionen), die unglückliche Verbindung zwischen Religiosität und Vorurteilsneigung sowie das Verhältnis von Religiosität und psychischer wie körperlicher Gesundheit gewesen. Dabei bestehen z. T. deutliche Überschneidungen zu Interessensgebieten der Theologie. Insofern besitzt die Religionspsychologie gerade für die Theologie vielfältige Potenziale, die zukünftig noch weiter ausgeschöpft werden sollten.
Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2011). "Spirituality" as Privatized Experience-Oriented Religion: Empir... more Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2011). "Spirituality" as Privatized Experience-Oriented Religion: Empirical and Conceptual Perspectives. Implicit Religion, 14, 433-453
Abstract: Recent empirical studies document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." This shift in the everyday semantic preference from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affected the terminology of the scientific study of religion and has produced there some uncertainty and ambivalence regarding the conceptualization of spirituality. This is critically discussed. To inspire reflection, the article refers of some classics in philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion. The aim of this article is twofold: first, to take the self-description "spiritual" very seriously and inspire more thoroughgoing and sophisticated research; second, to call into question the necessity of conceptualizing 'spirituality' and to suggest that the concept of 'religion' is sufficient, because "spirituality" can be understood as privatized, experience-oriented religion.
This article presents the Religious Schema Scale (RSS). Its conceptual background is the model of... more This article presents the Religious Schema Scale (RSS). Its conceptual background is the model of religious styles. After a conceptual discussion of the relation between religious styles and religious schemata, the steps of scale construction are reported. Based on 822 responses from research participants in the United States and Germany to a preliminary 78-item version, we used construct-oriented iterative and factor-analytic procedures for reducing the RSS to a 15-item version that consists of three 5-item subscales with acceptable reliabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the RSS has a robust 3-factor structure, which is cross-culturally valid in both the United States and Germany. We report correlations of the RSS with the Big Five, Psychological Well-Being, Religious Fundamentalism, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. We also present predictive characteristics of the RSS in regard to Fowler's stages of faith. Finally, we report results on the incremental validity of the RSS.
Streib, H., Hood, R. W., & Klein, C. (2010). The Religious Schema Scale: Construction and Initial Validation of a Quantitative Measure for Religious Styles. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 151-172
This article presents an outline of historical and situational arguments which suggest a focus on... more This article presents an outline of historical and situational arguments which suggest a focus on deconversion, an outline of conversion research and its consequences for deconversion, and a discussion of extant empirical research on deconversion. The discussion then focuses on the conceptualization of deconversion and compiles the features from which a comprehensive concept of deconversion may emerge. The core features of the deconversion concept which is suggested in this article are complemented by dimensions of diversity which also include a developmental perspective (from the religious styles perspective). This has implications for future research.
This article evaluates the portrait of faith development theory and research in James Fowler's ar... more This article evaluates the portrait of faith development theory and research in James Fowler's article, "Faith Development at 30." Questions are raised: Does Fowler's emphasis on the practical-theological and pastoral focus of faith development contradict its aspiration and disposition for empirical scrutiny? Does Fowler's principal concern with the reactions from Christian theologians and religious educators indicate disregard of and from psychology? Both questions can be denied with reference to the large amount of research projects which use and apply the faith development perspective. The article suggests further engagement in theory discussion, methodological clarification and empirical research; it invites networking among researchers and indicates future research strategies. But also the practical-theological relevance of faith development theory, especially for religious education, are demonstrated with reference to recent research. The article concludes, in agreement with Fowler, with a proposal to notice the importance of the Conjunctive Faith style for social bodies, and to include this in religious education. With the latter, the article moves beyond a wide-spread faith development application and argues against the false assumption as if children and adolescents could not understand and consider Conjunctive Faith.
Jugendlichen. Aus einer umfangreichen Rechelche der vorliegenden empirischen Forschung berichten ... more Jugendlichen. Aus einer umfangreichen Rechelche der vorliegenden empirischen Forschung berichten wil zunächst von ausgewählten Studien, auf die wir uns kritisch und konstruktiv beziehen, stellen dann Design uncl dies ist der Schwerpunkt dieses Beitrags -Ergebnisse einer eigens für diesen Beitrag dulchgefr.ihrten Studie an der Universität Bielefeld vor.
Streib, erschienen im Deutschen Pfarrerblatt, Ausgabe: 11 / 2016 "Spiritualität" ist zu einer Art... more Streib, erschienen im Deutschen Pfarrerblatt, Ausgabe: 11 / 2016 "Spiritualität" ist zu einer Art Containerbegriff geworden: er enthält semantisch enorm viel, wird dadurch aber auch unüberschaubar und fast schon unbrauchbar. Heinz Streib ist es gelungen, mittels empirischer Untersuchungen die Semantik von "Spiritualität" zu profilieren und auch auf ihren religions-und kirchenkritischen Bezug hin abzuklopfen. "Viele Menschen sind von etwas ergriffen, was sie unbedingt angeht; aber sie fühlen sich jeder konkreten Religion fern, gerade weil sie die Frage nach dem Sinn ihres Lebens ernst nehmen. Sie glauben, daß ihr tiefstes Anliegen in den vorhandenen Religionen nicht zum Ausdruck gebracht wird, und so lehnen sie die Religion ab "aus Religion"."(1) Dieses Zitat geht auf den Artikel "The Lost Dimension" zurück, den Paul Tillich am 14. Juni 1958 in der Saturday Evening Post, einer amerikanischen Wochenzeitschrift, veröffentlich hat. Freilich spricht Tillich hier nicht von "Spiritualität", sondern von "Religion als Leben in der Dimension der Tiefe". Tillich problematisiert die konkretistische Zerstörung der religiösen Symbole, die eben diese Tiefendimension repräsentieren, sowie deren Präsenz in Kunst, Literatur und Philosophie. Gleichwohl finde ich es angemessen, ein halbes Jahrhundert später an Tillichs Rede von der verlorenen Dimension zu erinnern und daran anzuknüpfen-mit Blick auf die erheblichen Veränderungen in der Semantik im religiösen Feld durch die zunehmende
Keller, B., Klein, C., Swhajor-Biesemann, A., Silver, C. F., Hood, R. W., & Streib, H. (2013). Th... more Keller, B., Klein, C., Swhajor-Biesemann, A., Silver, C. F., Hood, R. W., & Streib, H. (2013). The Semantics of "Spirituality" and Related Self-identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA. Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv für Religionspsychologie, 35, 71-100.
Abstract: The self-identification "spiritual" has gained considerable popularity in the last 30 years. This article focuses on its meanings and connotations in everyday understanding. Do persons identifying themselves as spiritual, as religious, or as neither nor refer to the same concepts, when talking about "spirituality" or "religion"? Does it make a difference whether they live in Germany or in the United States? First analyses from the Bielefeld-Chattanooga Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" are based on the semantic differential approach to comparing self-identified "neither religious nor spiritual", "religious", and "spiritual" persons regarding semantic attributes attached to "religion" and "spirituality". Results show: Regarding "religion," religious persons differ significantly from the spiritual persons. "Spirituality" seems to be something the "neither-nor" group and the religious group agree on. However, additional differentiations become visible from the comparison between the United States and Germany. Implications for the understanding of spiritual/religious self-identifications in the different cultural contexts are discussed.
This paper shows how corpus methods can be usefully employed in the field of psychology of religi... more This paper shows how corpus methods can be usefully employed in the field of psychology of religion. Current international surveys mirror an ongoing transformation in subjective meanings in religious discourse cumulating in the question: What do people actually mean when they describe themselves as spiritual, religious or neither? The paper presents results of a cross-disciplinary study with 1,886 participants in the USA and Germany. The thematic goal is to explore subjective understandings by examining the language use of participants who wrote personal definitions of religion and spirituality. Methodologically, we aim to bring forward the search for new mixed-method approaches in corpus linguistics. For the first time, the study introduces a corpus linguistic approach to empirical studies in the field of psychology of religion and shows how a search for textual patterns can become an integral part within a comprehensive research design which includes further quantitative and qualitative social-empirical instruments.
Streib, H. & Klein, C. (2014). Religious Styles Predict Inter-religious Prejudice: A Study of Ger... more Streib, H. & Klein, C. (2014). Religious Styles Predict Inter-religious Prejudice: A Study of German Adolescents with the Religious Schema Scale. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 24, 151-163.
Abstract: Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of inter-religious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, truth of texts & teachings (ttt), fairness, tolerance & rational choice (ftr) and xenosophia/inter-religious dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS-subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, while ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with inter-religious prejudice. Results of an ANOVA using high agreement on ttt, ftr and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in inter-religious prejudice in relation to religious development.
Keller, B. & Streib, H. (2013). Faith Development, Religious Styles and Biographical Narratives: ... more Keller, B. & Streib, H. (2013). Faith Development, Religious Styles and Biographical Narratives: Methodological Perspectives. Journal of Empirical Theology, 26, 1-21.
Abstract: Narrative study of religious lives has formed part of numerous projects at the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion. An essential instrument in our designs, which mostly combine qualitative and quantitative methods, is the Faith Development Interview (FDI). In response to longstanding criticism its cognitive structural framework has been revised in respect of styles and schemata. The religious styles perspective examines the self as articulated in narratives and associates it with afffectivity and emotion. This article gives an overview of our theoretical and methodological revisions, which take cognizance of current developments in lifespan developmental and clinical psychology such as attachment, mentalization and wisdom. We illustrate the implementation of these advances with a case study from our current study of espiritualityf,1 which we locate in the complex multi-method design, and outline the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data.
Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism ... more Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism and Related World Views. Implicit Religion, 16, 137-155.
Abstract: Mapping the religious field of present-day Western cultures such as America and Europe requires a synopsis of perspectives. There are, on the one hand, classical ways of defining religion in theology, sociology and psychology, and also established sociological models of the religious field; and there are, on the other hand, recent changes in how people on the street implicitly and explicitly understand themselves and behave. Many are reluctant to identify as religious persons, but self-identify as “spiritual” or “spiritual, not religious.” In this text we introduce our conceptualization of religion and of the religious field. Key concepts of religion are transcendence and ultimacy. For structuring the religious field, we attend to the distinction between vertical and horizontal symbolization of transcendence and ultimacy, and to the distinction between institutional mediation and individual immediacy.
1 In Kooperation mit der Breuninger Stiftung. Das Faith Development Interview (FDI) ist ein halbs... more 1 In Kooperation mit der Breuninger Stiftung. Das Faith Development Interview (FDI) ist ein halbstrukturiertes Interview, das in zahlreichen Studien an der Universität Bielefeld zur Erhebung religiöser Biographien eingesetzt wird. Durch Fragen, die die Themen Lebensrückblick, Beziehungen, Werte und Verpflichtungen und Religion/Weltanschauung umfassen, bietet es Raum zur Reflexion über das eigene Leben und dessen existentielle Grundlagen. Das Instrument wird von Untersuchungsteilnehmer/(inne)n gut angenommen und als Möglichkeit der Selbsterforschung geschätzt. Unsere Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass das FDI die Identifizierung sowohl von Ressourcen als auch von pathologischen Tendenzen im Zusammenhang mit Religiosität/Spiritualität erlaubt. Angesichts einer zunehmenden Anerkennung der Bedeutung von Religiosität/Spiritualität für seelische Gesundheit liegt es nah, das FDI als diagnostisches Instrument in psychotherapeutischen Settings zu nutzen. Die Möglichkeiten sowie die Grenzen des FDI werden anhand von Beispielen aus laufenden Untersuchungen diskutiert. Faith Development, Psychotherapie, Spiritualität, Religiosität, Ressource The Faith Development Interview -A method for the exploration of religiosity/ spirituality in psychotherapeutic settings The Faith Development Interview (FDI) is a semi-structured interview which has been used for the exploration of faith biographies in numerous studies at Bielefeld University. By asking questions, which explore the patient's life review, relationships, values and commitments, and religion/worldview, it offers space for reflection on one's life and its existential foundations. Research participants respond to this offer and appreciate it as opportunity to self-exploration. Our research results show that the FDI permits the identification of resources as well as of pathologic tendencies related to religiosity/spirituality. The growing acknowledgment of the importance of religiosity/
Seit den 1990er Jahren wird im deutschen Sprachraum wieder vermehrt zu Themen der Religionspsycho... more Seit den 1990er Jahren wird im deutschen Sprachraum wieder vermehrt zu Themen der Religionspsychologie gearbeitet. Forschungsschwerpunkte sind in dieser Zeit insbesondere die psychoanalytische Auseinandersetzung mit Religiosität, die Untersuchung der Entwicklung von Religiosität über die Lebensspanne, Brüche in der religiösen Biographie (Konversionen und Dekonversionen), die unglückliche Verbindung zwischen Religiosität und Vorurteilsneigung sowie das Verhältnis von Religiosität und psychischer wie körperlicher Gesundheit gewesen. Dabei bestehen z. T. deutliche Überschneidungen zu Interessensgebieten der Theologie. Insofern besitzt die Religionspsychologie gerade für die Theologie vielfältige Potenziale, die zukünftig noch weiter ausgeschöpft werden sollten.
Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2011). "Spirituality" as Privatized Experience-Oriented Religion: Empir... more Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2011). "Spirituality" as Privatized Experience-Oriented Religion: Empirical and Conceptual Perspectives. Implicit Religion, 14, 433-453
Abstract: Recent empirical studies document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." This shift in the everyday semantic preference from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affected the terminology of the scientific study of religion and has produced there some uncertainty and ambivalence regarding the conceptualization of spirituality. This is critically discussed. To inspire reflection, the article refers of some classics in philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion. The aim of this article is twofold: first, to take the self-description "spiritual" very seriously and inspire more thoroughgoing and sophisticated research; second, to call into question the necessity of conceptualizing 'spirituality' and to suggest that the concept of 'religion' is sufficient, because "spirituality" can be understood as privatized, experience-oriented religion.
This article presents the Religious Schema Scale (RSS). Its conceptual background is the model of... more This article presents the Religious Schema Scale (RSS). Its conceptual background is the model of religious styles. After a conceptual discussion of the relation between religious styles and religious schemata, the steps of scale construction are reported. Based on 822 responses from research participants in the United States and Germany to a preliminary 78-item version, we used construct-oriented iterative and factor-analytic procedures for reducing the RSS to a 15-item version that consists of three 5-item subscales with acceptable reliabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the RSS has a robust 3-factor structure, which is cross-culturally valid in both the United States and Germany. We report correlations of the RSS with the Big Five, Psychological Well-Being, Religious Fundamentalism, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. We also present predictive characteristics of the RSS in regard to Fowler's stages of faith. Finally, we report results on the incremental validity of the RSS.
Streib, H., Hood, R. W., & Klein, C. (2010). The Religious Schema Scale: Construction and Initial Validation of a Quantitative Measure for Religious Styles. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 151-172
This article presents an outline of historical and situational arguments which suggest a focus on... more This article presents an outline of historical and situational arguments which suggest a focus on deconversion, an outline of conversion research and its consequences for deconversion, and a discussion of extant empirical research on deconversion. The discussion then focuses on the conceptualization of deconversion and compiles the features from which a comprehensive concept of deconversion may emerge. The core features of the deconversion concept which is suggested in this article are complemented by dimensions of diversity which also include a developmental perspective (from the religious styles perspective). This has implications for future research.
This article evaluates the portrait of faith development theory and research in James Fowler's ar... more This article evaluates the portrait of faith development theory and research in James Fowler's article, "Faith Development at 30." Questions are raised: Does Fowler's emphasis on the practical-theological and pastoral focus of faith development contradict its aspiration and disposition for empirical scrutiny? Does Fowler's principal concern with the reactions from Christian theologians and religious educators indicate disregard of and from psychology? Both questions can be denied with reference to the large amount of research projects which use and apply the faith development perspective. The article suggests further engagement in theory discussion, methodological clarification and empirical research; it invites networking among researchers and indicates future research strategies. But also the practical-theological relevance of faith development theory, especially for religious education, are demonstrated with reference to recent research. The article concludes, in agreement with Fowler, with a proposal to notice the importance of the Conjunctive Faith style for social bodies, and to include this in religious education. With the latter, the article moves beyond a wide-spread faith development application and argues against the false assumption as if children and adolescents could not understand and consider Conjunctive Faith.
Jugendlichen. Aus einer umfangreichen Rechelche der vorliegenden empirischen Forschung berichten ... more Jugendlichen. Aus einer umfangreichen Rechelche der vorliegenden empirischen Forschung berichten wil zunächst von ausgewählten Studien, auf die wir uns kritisch und konstruktiv beziehen, stellen dann Design uncl dies ist der Schwerpunkt dieses Beitrags -Ergebnisse einer eigens für diesen Beitrag dulchgefr.ihrten Studie an der Universität Bielefeld vor.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis
Since the enormous shift in the everyday semantic from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affe... more Since the enormous shift in the everyday semantic from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affected the terminology of the scientific study of religion, it appears necessary to explain the position taken in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" to the question: Should 'spirituality' be used as scientific concept? Attempts to substitute religion with spirituality are critically discussed in this chapter. To ground and inspire reflection and suggest a conceptual framework for the chapters of this book, we refer to classics in philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion such as Schleiermacher, James, Troeltsch, Tillich and Luckmann. Thus the conclusion of this chapter is twofold: first, we call into question the necessity of establishing 'spirituality' as scientific concept (etic term) in contrast to or as substitute for 'religion'; instead, we argue that the concept of religion is sufficient, because spirituality can be understood as privatized, experience-oriented religion. Second, we strongly suggest taking the self-attribution as "spiritual" very seriously as emic term and thus open the perspective for the chapters to follow, which are committed to the thoroughgoing empirical study of "spirituality" as self-description of the persons who identify themselves by that term, whether in conjunction with religion or not.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 1, 2016
Spirituality" has become a rather popular way of self-describing one's world view and practice in... more Spirituality" has become a rather popular way of self-describing one's world view and practice in relation to the ultimate. While for many "spirituality" is more or less identical with "religion," surveys document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." These are indications of changes in the religious field. This chapter aims at locating the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" in the context of results from recent large-scale survey research (General Social Survey; Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaft; Religion Monitor). Survey results on "spirituality" will be presented to contextualize analyses that are presented in later chapters of this volume - and to profile our research design and its aims. Contextualization however also means to introduce the research design of our study - which is not another survey, but rather the attempt to answer questions that surveys leave open. Most urgent desiderata in the study of "spirituality" regard the semantics, psychology and biographical significance of spirituality. Our study has thus employed a variety of methods: quantitative self-report data, free entries in the questionnaire, semantic differentials, an experimental approach, and last but not least a large amount of personal interviews. This chapter ends with an outline of the combination and triangulation of the variety of methods and sorts of data.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 1, 2016
The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" has been inspired by the previous Biel... more The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" has been inspired by the previous Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on Deconversion. In this chapter we review this previous study and highlight the open questions and desiderata for the present study. Linking the two research perspectives implies the interesting question: Does "spirituality" and biographical development toward "spirituality" involve processes of deconversion? Because both are changes in the religious field that are associated with the "spiritual" self-attribution, our model of the religious field may help to understand this link. Where is privatized, experience-oriented religion located in the religious field?
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality” aims at an in-depth understanding of w... more The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality” aims at an in-depth understanding of what people call “spirituality.” For this aim, a multi-method design has been applied. Self-report instruments such as psychometric scales were used with a large sample in Germany and the USA. Our sampling procedure, aiming at capturing the varieties of being “spiritual,” resulted in a sample of 1113 participants in the USA and 773 in Germany. This chapter introduces the instruments which were compiled for our questionnaire, the Faith Development Interview , and the Implicit Association Task which we used with a selected smaller sample. The chapter also describes the construction of “focus groups ,” groups defined according to participants’ self-identification as “spiritual,” as “religious” or as “atheist /non-theist.” These focus groups have been used to structure the sample with respect to positions in the religious field . They were also used for the selection of participants for personal interviews, the Faith Development Interview (FDI), and an experiment, the Implicit Association Test (IAT ). The characterization of the focus groups concludes the chapter.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter explores the “spiritual/religious” self-identifications in cross-cultural perspectiv... more This chapter explores the “spiritual/religious” self-identifications in cross-cultural perspective. In addition to current self-identifications we asked how respondents remembered their environment at age 12 and combined this information with the current self-identification. Therefore, we can look at trajectories in both subsamples. Further, we explore aspects of social identity, such as sex, age , and current religious affiliation . Results indicate that participants who self-identify as “more religious” are affiliated with traditional, mostly Christian religious groups in both countries. Christian affiliates in our sample nevertheless self-identify more frequently as “equally religious and spiritual” or as “more spiritual than religious.” The majority of respondents in our sample self-identify as “more spiritual” whether they report affiliation with a religious tradition or not. In Germany, most “more spirituals” report “no religion,” while in the USA most “more spirituals” belong to a religious organization. The self-identification as “neither religious nor spiritual” in most cases is connected to non-affiliation, with the exception of a small group of Protestant s. Similarities and differences are discussed with reference to semantics in both research contexts.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
While people might distinguish strictly between “spirituality” and “religion” on the explicit lev... more While people might distinguish strictly between “spirituality” and “religion” on the explicit level of cognition, it is possible that such differences disappear on the implicit level. Implicit Association Tests (IAT s) provide a reliable and valid indirect procedure to measure implicit cognition. However, IAT s comparing “spirituality” and “religion” have not been used often in research yet. Earlier studies have tried to contrast both concepts either directly in one IAT or have used both concepts as a single category. Thus, in their operationalization they did not take the broadness, vagueness, and partial overlap of both terms into account satisfyingly. For a more valid comparison, in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on “Spirituality,” both “spirituality” and “religion” have been assessed by using the same stimuli and have been contrasted with “atheism ” as a third concept. The results based on a subsample of 104 participants (USA: n = 67, Germany: n = 37) show that the task difficulties were reasonable and that both IAT s proved to be reliable. The general IAT effect s were .33 (USA) and .36 (Germany) for “spirituality” and .26 (USA) and .22 (Germany) for “religion,” indicating a preference for both “spirituality” and “religion” when contrasted with “atheism .” The effect sizes differ in parts significantly between four groups of explicit “spiritual/religious” self-identification in both countries. Explicit “spiritual”/“religious” self-ratings correlate highly significant with the IAT effect s for “spirituality” and “religion.” Although, in general, the IAT scores are also very highly correlated, comparison between the four subgroups revealed that explicit self-rating and implicit attitude towards “spirituality” differ significantly among those who distinguish between their “spirituality” and “religion” on the explicit level.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on “Spirituality” had a special focus on the semantics o... more The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on “Spirituality” had a special focus on the semantics of “spirituality” and “religion,” and for this purpose has included a semantic differential approach. Two semantic differentials were part of the questionnaire and have been completed by 1,082 US-American and 703 German respondents: one of Osgood ’s “classical” instruments with 18 pairs of opposite adjectives, which had revealed a three-dimensional structure ( evaluation , potency , activity ) in previous cross-cultural research; the second instrument was a Contextual Semantic Differential with 30 pairs of opposite adjectives that has been constructed for this study. Both semantic differentials have been included twice in the questionnaire: first for “spirituality,” then for “religion.” Results are based on Paired t-tests comparing associations with “spirituality” and associations with “religion” for all adjectives, and on ANOVA s with focus group s in the US and the German samples. Results are visualized in line figures and scatter plots, which represent the semantic field s. Results generally indicate high regard for “spirituality” and rather negative evaluation of “religion.” They reveal relatively little differences between Germany and the US, but considerable differences between respondents who self-identify as “more religious,” “more spiritual,” “neither religious nor spiritual” or “atheist ” in the respective focus group s. We conclude that the semantic differentials yield insight in the surplus of “spirituality .”
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
Our study of the semantics of spirituality (Chapters 5-9) employs a va-riety of methods in an eff... more Our study of the semantics of spirituality (Chapters 5-9) employs a va-riety of methods in an effort to explore the binary spiritual/religious. While some have argued for a distinction between spirituality and religion, largely for a priori theoretical perspectives, our research explores the semantics of spirituality using self-report, semantic differential, implicit, and ideographic methods that cut across the etic/emic distinctions. While we did not directly test explicit hypotheses, we did explore distinctions between religion and spirituality based upon our own view that spirituality is not a concept that can be studied in isolation from religion. The full impact of our investigation supports this claim and sustains the conclusion that studying spirituality divorced from religion is not a meaningful way to advance our knowledge of spirituality which is in essence privatized or implicit religion. Furthermore, we conclude that the concept of spirituality can be meaningfully measured as a multidimensional construct of ten lower order factors or facets and three higher order factors that allow for an assessment both vertical and horizontal transcendence that is differentially located within the binary spiritual/religious.
As part of the semantic analyses in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of "Spirituality," t... more As part of the semantic analyses in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of "Spirituality," this chapter presents the analysis of 1039 English and 740 German subjective free-text-entry definitions of "spirituality" in response to the question: "How would you define the term 'spirituality'?" The entire corpus of 1779 cases was rated using 44 categories which have been inductively developed from the material, leaning on Content analysis, Ethnosemantics and Grounded Theocy methodology, and validated inter-subjectively in group sessions. Besides testing frequency distributions with the i-Test, Principal Component Analyses were performed for dimension reduction, from which we regard the solution with 10 components explaining 42.11 % of the variance as optimal. Thus 10 semantic dimensions of "spirituality" emerge from this analysis. Results from a second-order PCA soggest three components of the semantics of "spirituality": mystical vs. humanistic transcending, theistic versus non-theistic transcentknce, and individual "lived'' religion versus dogmatism. Thus this chapter demonstrates that a wide range as weil as clear differences in understanding "spirituality" emerge when analysed in a decisively idiographic approach.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter explores the relationship between the self-rating as “spiritual” and mysticism as me... more This chapter explores the relationship between the self-rating as “spiritual” and mysticism as measured by Hood’s Mysticism Scale. The introduction provides an overview of recent attempts to measure “spirituality” psychometrically, of the theoretical and empirical approaches to mysticism and already empirically observed relations between mysticism and “spirituality.” Many scales trying to operationalize “spirituality” lack a solid conceptual background and convincing empirical validity. Citing the work of Stace and James , Hood constructed a scale that provides detailed and measurable descriptions of mystical experiences , the Mysticism Scale. Since the Mysticism Scale measures varieties of personal experiences of unity with some kind of transcendence, it proves to be an excellent measure for what many people today call “spirituality.” This can be shown empirically by utilizing the three factor solution of the M-Scale , identified as introvertive, extrovertive, and interpretive mysticism, in structural equation models exploring the relationships between mysticism and self-rated “spirituality” as well as self-rated “religion.” This chapter concludes by arguing that “spirituality” may be the product of experiences that can be described in terms of mysticism.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter presents results about personality and self-identified “spirituality” from the Biele... more This chapter presents results about personality and self-identified “spirituality” from the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality.” The data yield insights in commonalities and differences not only between the USA and Germany, but between emerging new forms of religion and between different versions of “spirituality,” such as the “spirituality” opposed to religion, or the “spirituality” of self-identified “atheist s” and “non-theists.” How are such different versions of “spirituality” reflected in the personality of our respondents? This is the question this chapter deals with on the basis of the results with the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Results indicate that, compared to the normative values for the USA and Germany, the “more spiritual than religious,” but also the “neither religious nor spiritual” respondents in both countries score considerably higher on openness to experience . Further, there is little evidence in our data that self-identified “spirituality” could be explained by openness to experience or other personality factors. Finally, as Analyses of Variance of the Big Five personality dimensions in the “spiritual”/“religious”/“atheist ” self-identifying groups (our focus groups ) demonstrate, openness to experience is especially suitable for mapping the varieties of “spirituality” in our data.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter presents new perspectives for understanding “spirituality” that emerge from its rela... more This chapter presents new perspectives for understanding “spirituality” that emerge from its relation with religious styles and schemata in the data of the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on “Spirituality.” ANOVA results with our focus groups indicate that respondents who self-identify as “more spiritual than religious” in both the USA and Germany have lower scores on truth of texts and teachings (ttt), a subscale of the Religious Schema Scale (RSS); still lower on ttt, however, are the respondents who self-identify as “neither religious nor spiritual” or as “atheists ” or “non-theists.” Results further indicate that self-identification as “spiritual” (“more spiritual atheist /non-theists” excluded) is associated with a preference for xenosophia/ inter-religious dialog (xenos). Religious schema groups, which were constructed according to exclusively high agreement with either ttt, ftr, or xenos, profile the relation of the religious schema ta to “spirituality” and “religion” further and confirm the relation of “spirituality” with dialogical, xenosophic attitudes. Finally, regression and mediation analyses using structural equation modelling show that ttt predicts the self-attribution “religious” stronger than the self-attribution “spiritual,” while xenos for most respondents predicts the self-attribution “spiritual,” rather than the self-attribution “religious.” The religious schema ta have strong effects in predicting and mediating the predictions on self-rated “religion” and, more important for our project, on self-rated “spirituality.”
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
The entire volume aims at discovering new perspectives on whether, how and why “spirituality” mak... more The entire volume aims at discovering new perspectives on whether, how and why “spirituality” makes a difference. In this context, this chapter unites central psychological perspectives and presents a new way for mapping “spirituality” and explains the selection of coordinates for such mapping. Thus, this last chapter in the Part on “measuring characteristics and effects of spirituality” draws conclusions from the previous chapters: As detailed in Chaps. 11 and 12, two variables stand out in their effects on self-rated “spirituality”: mysticism (assessed by Hood’s Mysticism Scale ) and openness to experience (a subscale of the NEO Five Factor Inventory ). We not only argue in this chapter that these two variables can be used as coordinates for mapping “spirituality” in a two-dimensional space, but demonstrate that “spiritual”/“religious” self-identification groups, semantic preferences, religious schema ta and even single cases can plausibly be plotted in the two-dimensional space of openness to experience and mysticism. Thus, we conclude that these coordinates allow for accounting for and visualizing the difference that “spirituality” makes.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
In the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality," the quali-tative data consists of ... more In the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality," the quali-tative data consists of 102 rated faith development interviews with 54 persons from the USA and 48 from Germany who have been selected according to their focus group membership, i.e. according to their self-identification as "spiritual," "religious," both or neither, and as "theist" or "non-theist." This brief chapter pre-sents an overview of the interviews that were selected for elaboration of the case studies in the chapters to follow. This selection has aimed at presenting the varie-ties of "spirituality" in the lives as told in the Faith Development Interviews (FDIs). Thus, besides basic demographic characteristics such as country, age, gen-der, and religious affiliation, "spiritual" self-identification was an important crite-rion. Further contributions for mapping the varieties of "spirituality" derive from the coordinates "openness" and "mysticism" (Chapter 14). Finally we introduce the organization of chapters, based on this preliminary map of "spiritual" trajectories.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 1, 2016
This chapter presents an introduction to the Faith Development Interview (FDI) and describes its ... more This chapter presents an introduction to the Faith Development Interview (FDI) and describes its background in Fowler ’s theory and research, explains the FDI questions and the evaluation procedure according to the Manual for Faith Development Research. Then this chapter introduces our more recent methodological modifications of the FDI evaluation procedure, which were applied in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality” in which more than one hundred FDIs have been conducted and evaluated. Suggestions for the modification of the evaluation method include: taking into account the differences between the aspects of faith, more decisive attention to the wealth of narrative data and the various dimensions which the FDI questions elicit beyond the structural-developmental information, and finally the triangulation with questionnaire data.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter summarizes the trajectories laid out in the chapters focusing on narrative construct... more This chapter summarizes the trajectories laid out in the chapters focusing on narrative constructions of faith development in biographical context (Chaps. 16, 18–22 and 26). Differences and similarities which are aligned to and which cut across focus group s (defined by self-identification as “religious” vs. “spiritual” and the distinction of theist vs non- or atheist , see Chap. 4), affiliation, and cultural context are highlighted. Different trajectories are reviewed, and different discursive functions of being “spiritual” are outlined. The map we draw is, however, based on a selection of interviews obtained in this project. It will need to be revised as we study more interviews and map new territory, including our third volume that will be based upon longitudinal research now in progress.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter has a special focus on the question how “spiritual” self-attribution is related to r... more This chapter has a special focus on the question how “spiritual” self-attribution is related to religious development . Do the “spiritual”/“religious” self-identifications and self-ratings as “spiritual” change together with the religious style /faith stage? Do subjective understandings (semantic versions) of “spirituality” change from one stage to the other or differ between specific configurations of religious styles? In the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality,” we interviewed a selection of more than one hundred of the 1886 respondents using the Faith Development Interview (FDI). FDI ratings were completed for 54 respondents in the USA and 48 in Germany. This chapter presents results about the relation of faith development/religious styles and “spirituality” both qualitatively and quantitatively. In regard to the qualitative analysis, the case studies from previous chapters are discussed in a synoptic view. Quantitative evaluation is possible on the basis of a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data, after results from FDI evaluation were re-entered in the quantitative data base, which contains, for example, each interviewee’s response to the Religious Schema Scale , to the self-rating as “religious” and “spiritual,” but also information about the respondents’ semantics of “spirituality.” Results indicate that the faith stages/religious style s relate to age, to self-ratings as “spiritual” and “religious,” and to the semantics of “spirituality”—which allows the identification of style-specific semantic profiles.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This chapter deals with the association between “spirituality” and indicators of positive adult d... more This chapter deals with the association between “spirituality” and indicators of positive adult development. While possible links of “spirituality” to mental health, well-being , and psychological growth have been the subject of extensive research, this broad interest in salutary effects of “spirituality” has gone along with an inflationary usage of the term “spirituality,” vague concepts and invalid measures. This is particularly true when “spirituality” itself is implicitly understood in terms of mental health and well-being (e.g. as meaning, self-efficacy, or inner peace). Such an overlap of concepts results in illusionary associations because the same phenomenon is measured twice. Therefore it is important to distinguish between the conceptualizations of “spirituality” and their possible associations with dimensions of mental health and well-being. In the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study of “Spirituality,” mystical experiences have been measured using Hood’s M-Scale; and SEM analyses (see Chap. 11) have evidenced that the M-Scale is an excellent predictor of self-rated “spirituality.” Thus, the M-Scale can be used as a measure for what many people today call “spirituality.” An advantage of the M-Scale in comparison to more recently developed measures of “spirituality” within health research is that the M-Scale is unsuspicious to be a hidden measure of well-being. But—and this is the focus of this chapter—a set of SEMs illustrates that the subscales of the M-Scale predict psychological well-being as measured with the Psychological Well-Being and Growth Scale, generativity as measured with the Loyola Generativity Scale, and neuroticism/emotional stability as measured with the NEO-FFI . It can be concluded from these findings that “spiritual” experiences are indeed associated with positive adult development in terms of well-being, generativity, and emotional stability.
Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 2016
This concluding chapter places our study in context by linking it not only to our first book on d... more This concluding chapter places our study in context by linking it not only to our first book on deconversion (Streib, Hood, Keller, Csöff, & Silver, 2009), but by suggesting how this text is a second in a trilogy that compliments this cross-sectional etic and emic study of the semantics of spirituality with a longitudinal study of faith development forthcoming. We begin with philosophical support for our stand of methodological agnosticism which sustains our use of ultimate concern and transcendence (vertical and horizontal) to map individuals and groups in a two-dimensional space, the religious field. In addition, for empirical reasons we create an additional two dimensional space to map individuals and groups in our study in terms of Hood's M-scale as a measure of spirituality and the openness to experience scale. Finally, we address criticisms of cross-cultural psychology applied to universalizing measures such as mysticism. We claim that mysticism and the religious styles perspective are appropriate for investigating - and mapping - commonalities and differences between Germany and the USA on the semantics of "spirituality."
This is the fourth edition of the Manual for Faith Development Research. Since the first edition ... more This is the fourth edition of the Manual for Faith Development Research. Since the first edition in 1986, the aim of the Manual has always been assisting researchers in faith development research and warrant methodological consistency in the community of faith development researchers. While the second edition was slightly revised and expanded reacting to the growing dissertations and research projects worldwide and trying to keep faith development research up-to-date with current discussions in the filed such as the feminist critique of faith development theory, in the third edition of the Manual, more decisive revisions were implemented such as the restructuring of the coding criteria along the different aspects of faith. The intent of this change was the opening the research perspective for the differences between the aspects of faith, thereby accounting for obviously uneven distribution of stage assignments that were found in empirical research. Now, the fourth, considerably revised edition of the Manual pays tribute to new conceptual and empirical developments in the fields of developmental psychology and psychology of religion. From a life span perspective, development is conceptualized in multidimensional and multidirectional models, rather than as a sequence of predefined stages. Consideration of the religious styles perspective is growing, and thus the semantics of “stages” and “faith” may appear antiquated and has been updated. These and other current challenges are addressed and responded to in this fourth edition of the Manual, which builds upon the experience of two decades of faith development evaluation at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (U.S.A.) and Bielefeld University (Germany).
This book examines what people mean when they say they are "spiritual". It looks at the semantics... more This book examines what people mean when they say they are "spiritual". It looks at the semantics of "spirituality", the visibility of reasons for "spiritual" preference in biographies, in psychological dispositions, in cultural differences between Germany and the US, and in gender differences. It also examines the kind of biographical consequences that are associated with "spirituality". The book reports the results of an online-questionnaire filled out by 773 respondents in Germany and 1113 in the US, personal interviews with a selected group of more than 100 persons, and an experiment. Based on the data collected, it reports results that are relevant for a number of scientific and practical disciplines. It makes a contribution to the semantics of everyday religious language and to the cross-cultural study of religion and to many related fields as well, because "spirituality" is evaluated in relation to personality, mysticism, well-being, religious styles, generativity, attachment, biography and atheism. The book draws attention to the – new and ever changing – ways in which people give names to their ultimate concern and symbolize their experiences of transcendence.
„Ich bin mehr spirituell als religiös" sagen immer mehr Menschen in den U.S.A., aber auch in Deut... more „Ich bin mehr spirituell als religiös" sagen immer mehr Menschen in den U.S.A., aber auch in Deutschland. Was heißt hier „Spiritualität"? Welche psychologischen und biographischen Veränderungen sind damit verbunden? Heinz Streib und Barbara Keller geben Antworten, gestützt auf die qualitativen und quantitativen Ergebnisse der an der Universität Bielefeld durchgeführten Studie zur Semantik und Psychologie von „Spiritualität". Eine lohnenswerte Lektüre über Veränderungen im religiösen Feld für alle, die sich an Universität und Schule, in Seelsorge und Beratung, in Kirchen und Medien mit dem Phänomen „Spiritualität" beschäftigen.
This book presents case studies and empirical data of a phenomenon which increasingly gains popul... more This book presents case studies and empirical data of a phenomenon which increasingly gains popularity in Western societies: deconversion. There is, the authors argue, no better word than deconversion to describe processes of disengagement from religious orientations, because these have much in common with conversion; Termination of membership may eventually be the final step of deconversion, but it involves biographical and psychological dynamics which can and need to be reconstructed by qualitative approaches and analyzed by quantitative instruments. In the Bielefeld-based Cross-Cultural Study on Deconversion, disengagement processes from a variety of religious orientations in the U.S.A. and in Germany were examined, ranging from wellestablished religious organizations to new religious and fundamentalist groups. Nearly 1,200 persons participated in the study and were interviewed from 2002 to 2005. In the focus of the study are 100 deconverts from the U.S.A. and from Germany who were examined with narrative interviews, faith development interviews and an extensive questionnaire. For case study elaboration, the study followed a research design with an innovative triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data. Four chapters, corresponding to four types of deconversion, present 21 case studies. The highlights of the research project are new data on spirituality - the deconverts in particular appear to prefer a "more spiritual than religious" selfidentification - and in-depth analyses of a variety of deconversion narratives with special focus on personality factors, motivation, attitudes, religious development, psychological well-being and growth, religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism. The results of this project which was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft are of special relevance for counselling and pastoral care, for religious education and for people concerned with administration and management of religious groups and churches, but also for a wider audience interested in contemporary changes in the religious fields in the U.S.A. and Germany.
There is a new, 4th edition (2018) available for download:
Streib, H. & Keller, B. (2018). Manua... more There is a new, 4th edition (2018) available for download:
Streib, H. & Keller, B. (2018). Manual for the Assessment of Religious Styles in Faith Development Interviews (Fourth, revised edition of the Manual for Faith Development Research). Bielefeld: Bielefeld University/readbox unipress, ISBN(print): 978-3-943363-03-6, download link: https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2920987/2932661.pdf
Religious educators are very often among the first professionals in the schools that are called i... more Religious educators are very often among the first professionals in the schools that are called in situations of escalating violence. Therefore religious educators should be good-enough experts about the role that (different versions of) religion play in promoting resp. preventing prejudice and deviance. Could we base such expertise on empirical evidence? On the basis of 167 students (mean age = 14.5) who between July 2011 and May 2012 participated in a questionnaire study that was administered by researchers associated with the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion, we are able to present results on the students' experience of and inclination to violence, and their readiness for mediation. Results shed light especially on the dimension that is not well investigated in previous studies on adolescents (at least in the research on adolescents in Germany): the differential role of religiosity. The surprise in the results, however, is the very strong role of the violence legitimizing norms of masculinity. Results are contributions to research on German adolescentsthereby attending to the lost dimensions of religion, but also to the impact of other factors, which are related to aggressiveness resp. the readiness for mediation.
In the psychology of religion, atheists and agnostics have received less attention than believers... more In the psychology of religion, atheists and agnostics have received less attention than believers and converts. More recently, however, atheists receive more attention and agnostics – including suggestions to study atheists and agnostics in their own right. This new interest may be due to indications of a considerable increase in religious nonaffiliation. These groups of unaffiliates and disaffiliates eventually include portions of atheists and agnostics – even though the question, who are the "nones"? should be approached with care. While most research used to work with a static and synchronic contrast of belief vs. unbelief or religiosity vs. atheism/agnosticism, it is necessary to include deconverts, because people who leave their faith call attention to the dynamics of migrations in the religious field which eventually lead to exit the religious field altogether. Deconverts also raise the question of biographical change. For a deeper understanding of atheists and agnostics and people who deconvert eventually to atheist and agnostic beliefs, it is imperative to know motivations and psychological predictors, psychological correlates, and also the effects and outcomes. Are turns to atheism, agnosticism and apostasy associated with an increase or a decrease in psychological well-being? How do they effect health? Do they lead to preference of specific coping styles? Surprisingly, we have empirical evidence that a considerable portion of self-declared atheists, agnostics and deconverts nevertheless self-identify as "spiritual." What is the "spirituality" of atheists, agnostics and deconverts? In this paper, we address these questions, discuss results from extant research, and suggest direction in future research.
The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" had a special focus on the semantics o... more The Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" had a special focus on the semantics of "spirituality" and "religion," and for this purpose has included a semantic differential approach. Two semantic differentials were part of the questionnaire and have been completed by 1,082 US-American and 703 German respondents: one of Osgood's "classical" instruments with 18 pairs of opposite adjectives, which had revealed a three-dimensional structure (Evaluation, Potency, Activity) in previous cross-cultural research; The second instrument was a contextual semantic differential with 30 pairs of opposite adjectives that has been constructed for this study. Both semantic differentials have been included twice in the questionnaire: first for "spirituality," then for "religion." Results are based on Paired t-tests comparing associations with "spirituality" and associations with "religion" for all adjectives, and on ANOVAs with focus groups in the US and the German samples. Results are visualized in line figures and scatter plots, which represent the semantic fields. Results generally indicate high regard for "spirituality" and rather negative evaluation of "religion." They reveal relatively little differences between Germany and the U.S., but considerable differences between respondents who self-identify as "more religious", "more spiritual," "neither religious nor spiritual" or "atheist" in the respective focus groups. We conclude that the semantic differentials yield insight in the surplus of "spirituality."
Stages of Faith has inspired theory and research in the U.S.A. and worldwide to interpret and ana... more Stages of Faith has inspired theory and research in the U.S.A. and worldwide to interpret and analyze the developmental changes of individual religiosity. 'Faith development' has become the term for a specific structural-developmental perspective which originates in Fowler's work and which enjoys increasing recognition in the psychology of religion. Because of the roots of Fowler's (1981) model in the tradition of Piaget and Kohlberg, faith development research was, especially in the early years, searching for evidence of the new structuraldevelopmental model of religious development which ambitiously has claimed consistency with ) criteria for stage models. Today, since plausibility for the structural-developmental paradigm has declined and most colleagues in the field have become rather unenthusiastic with a priori presuppositions for conceptualizing 'hard stage development,' theory and research in religious development can be understoodless burdened with presuppositions and empirically more effectiveas accounting for and measuring of individual differences in religious styles. Conceptualizing religious development in terms of religious styles and schemata opens new perspectives, qualitative and quantitative. New instrument development and new empirical evidence in the years 2009 and 2010 add to the advancement of the new model.
Wie kriegen wir gelebte Religion so ins Klassenzimmer hinein, daß Lehrer und Schüler an ihr arbei... more Wie kriegen wir gelebte Religion so ins Klassenzimmer hinein, daß Lehrer und Schüler an ihr arbeiten und lernen können?" fragte C. Bizer bereits 1981. 1 Diese Frage aufnehmend hat H.-G. Heimbrock in den 90er Jahren einen programmatischen Entwurf vorgelegt, der das Fragezeichen durch ein klares Ausrufezeichen ersetzt: Gelebte Religion im Klassenzimmer! 2 Dabei hat Heimbrock in diesen Perspektivenwechsel nicht allein Ansätze eines seelsorgerlich oder sozialisationsbegleitend profilierten Religionsunterrichts, 3 und damit eine feine Frankfurter Tradition, aufgenommen, sondern diesem Perspektivenwechsel in religionspädagogischer Absicht zugleich eine beachtliche Horizonterweiterung angedeihen lassen, die sich insbesondere seiner Profilierung des Verständnisses von "gelebter Religion" von Jugendlichen verdankt. Lebensweltbezogene Religionsdidaktik wird nun so verstanden, dass auch und gerade religiöse Phänomene in der Alltagskultur und der bei Jugendlichen populären medialen Welt in Musik, Film und Computerspiel, und dabei ausdrücklich auch implizite Formen solcher gelebten Religion, in den Rang religionsdidaktisch beachtlicher Phänomene erhoben werden. Mit dieser Perspektive "gelebte Religion im Klassenzimmer" kann und sollte konzeptionell, praktisch und empirisch weitergearbeitet werden.
The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR) is devoted to psychological studi... more The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR) is devoted to psychological studies of religious processes and phenomena in all religious traditions. This journal provides a means for sustained discussion of psychologically relevant issues that can be examined empirically and concern religion in the most general sense. It presents articles covering a variety of important topics, such as the social psychology of religion, religious development, conversion, religious experience, religion and social attitudes and behavior, religion and mental health, and psychoanalytic and other theoretical interpretations of religion. The journal publishes research reports, brief research reports, commentaries on relevant topical issues, book reviews, and statements addressing articles published in previous issues. The journal may also include a major essay and commentaries, perspective papers of the theory, and articles on the psychology of religion in a specific country.
Research in psychology of religion and spirituality has roots stretching back into the 19 th cent... more Research in psychology of religion and spirituality has roots stretching back into the 19 th century, however only recently has it begun investigating the atheist or the agnostic. While informative, these investigations have yet to build or identify a psychologically meaningful construct from nonreligion that is not contaminated by, or situated within, a system of theistic propositions. Explorations that focus on purely negative identities (e.g., not a theist) may fail to capture much of what is psychologically interesting and informative about this demographic. Atheism is interesting juxtaposed against the background of worldwide belief, but where is the multidimensionality and complexity of non-theistic worldviews that are so commonly attributed to theistic worldviews? Similar obstacles exist within in the cognitive sciences of religion. Here scholars tend to view some cognitive mechanisms as sui generis " religious mechanisms, " characterizing atheists as either implicitly religious or cognitively deficient in attempting to explain the existence of these individuals. The central focus of this special issue of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, with guest editors Ralph W. Hood Jr., Heinz Streib, and Thomas J. Coleman III, is to challenge psychologists and cognitive scientists to move beyond atheism and agnosticism by investigating " non-religious worldviews " as full-fledged constructs rather than as a solely negative identity. We invite manuscripts (theoretical, empirical, and method) focused on exploring atheism, agnosticism, and non-religion from multiple perspectives by addressing the question of complexity and multidimensionality in measurement, psychological mechanisms, and theoretical models. Topics of specific interest are listed below:
In this chapter, we suggest the use of Hood’s Mysticism Scale (M-scale) for a differential assess... more In this chapter, we suggest the use of Hood’s Mysticism Scale (M-scale) for a differential assessment of subjective spirituality. We base this view on the conceptualization of mysticism and its relation to spirituality, and on the definition of spirituality as individualized experience-orientated religiosity. This perspective was empirically tested in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on Spirituality, which explored in comprehensive semantic analyses how participants in the USA and Germany define spirituality and revealed that more spiritual than religious people preferably associate spirituality with experiences of all-connectedness, search for a higher self, existential truth, and humanistic morality. Moreover, structural equations modeling based on this and other recent data sets reveal that the M-scale and its factors have considerable effects on self-rated spirituality. Thus, we recommend the M-scale as measure for subjective spirituality, which avoids the widespread pro...
Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv f&# 252; r …, 1997
Die Unterschiede in der Art, wie Religion zur heiligen Zeit und im Alltag ,gelebt' wird, sind... more Die Unterschiede in der Art, wie Religion zur heiligen Zeit und im Alltag ,gelebt' wird, sind so alt wie die Religion selbst. Wie mit diesen Differenzen umzugehen ist, hat sich gewandelt. Glucklicherweise sind in der Moderne zumindest dem Anspruch nach und freilich mit Milieu-Unterschieden Toleranz, ja Dialog zu ethischen Leitlinien geworden. Ohne daB damit allerdings die Differenzen der Religionsauffassungen und Religionsausiibungen kleiner geworden waren, so gilt doch zumindest die Regel, sie in ihrer Vielfalt offenen Auges und mit weniger Befremdung wahrzunehmen. Die Analyse der religiosen Lage der Gegenwart prasentiert insofern eine neue Situation, als fortschreitender Traditionsabbruch und Individualisierung die Auseinandersetzung mit den Religionsdifferenzen den Einzelnen aufgeburdet zu haben scheint eine Veranderung, die sich etwa in der Vielfalt von kirchlich-subkulturellen und nicht-kirchlichen Formen von Religiositat niederschlagt. Kirchenzugeh6rigkeit aufzukindigen oder am Gottesdienst nicht teilzunehmen, muf3 ja keineswegs den Llbergang in Religionslosigkeit oder feindschaft bedeuten.1 Das Brockeln der Traditionsbindung stellt insofern eine Verscharfung des Problems dar, als dadurch der Weg ,vom Schicksal zur Wahl' unumkehrbar beschritten wurde und damit fur immer breitere Schich-
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Articles by Heinz Streib
Abstract: The self-identification "spiritual" has gained considerable popularity in the last 30 years. This article focuses on its meanings and connotations in everyday understanding. Do persons identifying themselves as spiritual, as religious, or as neither nor refer to the same concepts, when talking about "spirituality" or "religion"? Does it make a difference whether they live in Germany or in the United States? First analyses from the Bielefeld-Chattanooga Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" are based on the semantic differential approach to comparing self-identified "neither religious nor spiritual", "religious", and "spiritual" persons regarding semantic attributes attached to "religion" and "spirituality". Results show: Regarding "religion," religious persons differ significantly from the spiritual persons. "Spirituality" seems to be something the "neither-nor" group and the religious group agree on. However, additional differentiations become visible from the comparison between the United States and Germany. Implications for the understanding of spiritual/religious self-identifications in the different cultural contexts are discussed.
Abstract: Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of inter-religious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, truth of texts & teachings (ttt), fairness, tolerance & rational choice (ftr) and xenosophia/inter-religious dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS-subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, while ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with inter-religious prejudice. Results of an ANOVA using high agreement on ttt, ftr and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in inter-religious prejudice in relation to religious development.
Abstract: Narrative study of religious lives has formed part of numerous projects at the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion. An essential instrument in our designs, which mostly combine qualitative and quantitative methods, is the Faith Development Interview (FDI). In response to longstanding criticism its cognitive structural framework has been revised in respect of styles and schemata. The religious styles perspective examines the self as articulated in narratives and associates it with afffectivity and emotion. This article gives an overview of our theoretical and methodological revisions, which take cognizance of current developments in lifespan developmental and clinical psychology such as attachment, mentalization and wisdom. We illustrate the implementation of these advances with a case study from our current study of espiritualityf,1 which we locate in the complex multi-method design, and outline the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data.
Abstract: Mapping the religious field of present-day Western cultures such as America and Europe requires a synopsis of perspectives. There are, on the one hand, classical ways of defining religion in theology, sociology and psychology, and also established sociological models of the religious field; and there are, on the other hand, recent changes in how people on the street implicitly and explicitly understand themselves and behave. Many are reluctant to identify as religious persons, but self-identify as “spiritual” or “spiritual, not religious.” In this text we introduce our conceptualization of religion and of the religious field. Key concepts of religion are transcendence and ultimacy. For structuring the religious field, we attend to the distinction between vertical and horizontal symbolization of transcendence and ultimacy, and to the distinction between institutional mediation and individual immediacy.
Abstract: Recent empirical studies document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." This shift in the everyday semantic preference from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affected the terminology of the scientific study of religion and has produced there some uncertainty and ambivalence regarding the conceptualization of spirituality. This is critically discussed. To inspire reflection, the article refers of some classics in philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion. The aim of this article is twofold: first, to take the self-description "spiritual" very seriously and inspire more thoroughgoing and sophisticated research; second, to call into question the necessity of conceptualizing 'spirituality' and to suggest that the concept of 'religion' is sufficient, because "spirituality" can be understood as privatized, experience-oriented religion.
Streib, H., Hood, R. W., & Klein, C. (2010). The Religious Schema Scale: Construction and Initial Validation of a Quantitative Measure for Religious Styles. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 151-172
Abstract: The self-identification "spiritual" has gained considerable popularity in the last 30 years. This article focuses on its meanings and connotations in everyday understanding. Do persons identifying themselves as spiritual, as religious, or as neither nor refer to the same concepts, when talking about "spirituality" or "religion"? Does it make a difference whether they live in Germany or in the United States? First analyses from the Bielefeld-Chattanooga Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" are based on the semantic differential approach to comparing self-identified "neither religious nor spiritual", "religious", and "spiritual" persons regarding semantic attributes attached to "religion" and "spirituality". Results show: Regarding "religion," religious persons differ significantly from the spiritual persons. "Spirituality" seems to be something the "neither-nor" group and the religious group agree on. However, additional differentiations become visible from the comparison between the United States and Germany. Implications for the understanding of spiritual/religious self-identifications in the different cultural contexts are discussed.
Abstract: Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of inter-religious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, truth of texts & teachings (ttt), fairness, tolerance & rational choice (ftr) and xenosophia/inter-religious dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS-subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, while ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with inter-religious prejudice. Results of an ANOVA using high agreement on ttt, ftr and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in inter-religious prejudice in relation to religious development.
Abstract: Narrative study of religious lives has formed part of numerous projects at the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion. An essential instrument in our designs, which mostly combine qualitative and quantitative methods, is the Faith Development Interview (FDI). In response to longstanding criticism its cognitive structural framework has been revised in respect of styles and schemata. The religious styles perspective examines the self as articulated in narratives and associates it with afffectivity and emotion. This article gives an overview of our theoretical and methodological revisions, which take cognizance of current developments in lifespan developmental and clinical psychology such as attachment, mentalization and wisdom. We illustrate the implementation of these advances with a case study from our current study of espiritualityf,1 which we locate in the complex multi-method design, and outline the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data.
Abstract: Mapping the religious field of present-day Western cultures such as America and Europe requires a synopsis of perspectives. There are, on the one hand, classical ways of defining religion in theology, sociology and psychology, and also established sociological models of the religious field; and there are, on the other hand, recent changes in how people on the street implicitly and explicitly understand themselves and behave. Many are reluctant to identify as religious persons, but self-identify as “spiritual” or “spiritual, not religious.” In this text we introduce our conceptualization of religion and of the religious field. Key concepts of religion are transcendence and ultimacy. For structuring the religious field, we attend to the distinction between vertical and horizontal symbolization of transcendence and ultimacy, and to the distinction between institutional mediation and individual immediacy.
Abstract: Recent empirical studies document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." This shift in the everyday semantic preference from "religion" to "spirituality" has also affected the terminology of the scientific study of religion and has produced there some uncertainty and ambivalence regarding the conceptualization of spirituality. This is critically discussed. To inspire reflection, the article refers of some classics in philosophy, psychology and sociology of religion. The aim of this article is twofold: first, to take the self-description "spiritual" very seriously and inspire more thoroughgoing and sophisticated research; second, to call into question the necessity of conceptualizing 'spirituality' and to suggest that the concept of 'religion' is sufficient, because "spirituality" can be understood as privatized, experience-oriented religion.
Streib, H., Hood, R. W., & Klein, C. (2010). The Religious Schema Scale: Construction and Initial Validation of a Quantitative Measure for Religious Styles. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 151-172
Now, the fourth, considerably revised edition of the Manual pays tribute to new conceptual and empirical developments in the fields of developmental psychology and psychology of religion. From a life span perspective, development is conceptualized in multidimensional and multidirectional models, rather than as a sequence of predefined stages. Consideration of the religious styles perspective is growing, and thus the semantics of “stages” and “faith” may appear antiquated and has been updated. These and other current challenges are addressed and responded to in this fourth edition of the Manual, which builds upon the experience of two decades of faith development evaluation at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (U.S.A.) and Bielefeld University (Germany).
Streib, H. & Keller, B. (2018). Manual for the Assessment of Religious Styles in Faith Development Interviews (Fourth, revised edition of the Manual for Faith Development Research). Bielefeld: Bielefeld University/readbox unipress, ISBN(print): 978-3-943363-03-6, download link: https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2920987/2932661.pdf
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