The mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and god image among Turkish Muslims

Childhood maltreatment is widespread in predominantly Muslim countries. However, the research investigating the impact of childhood maltreatment on the adult survivors’ religious and spiritual lives has mainly focused on Western Judeo-Christian samples. Considering cross-cultural differences in religious beliefs, in this study, we investigated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and god image, and the mediating role of self-esteem in a sample of Muslim Turkish adults. Eight hundred two participants completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire–Short Form, God Perception Scale, and Self-Esteem Scale. Findings revealed that all childhood maltreatment subtypes predicted negative image of god and self-esteem mediated some of the negative effects of each maltreatment subtype on god image. The study also found that emotional neglect was the most prominent predictor of negative image of god, followed by emotional abuse. Based on attachment theory, we concluded that the emotional component of childhood maltreatment had more long-lasting adverse consequences in survivors’s relationship with god in Muslim adults.

Institutional Religion and Religious Experience

A number of empirical studies have shown the continuous lack of adherence and the growing autonomy of the population regarding religious institutions. This article reflects on the kind of relationship between deinstitutionalisation and religious experience based on the following hypothesis: the evident decline in religious institutions does not necessarily lead to the disappearance or the weakening of religious experience; rather, it runs simultaneously with a process of individualisation. Our aim is to provide empirical evidence of such transformations; therefore, we do not get involved in speculations, but take into account the contributions of scholars concerning three key terms integrated in the conceptual framework of “religious experience’’: “experience of God”, “God image”, and “institutional belonging”. We analysed 39 in-depth interviews with a qualitative approach; interviews were conducted during the years 2016–2018 amongst Evangelical and Catholic populations in three Latin American cities (Córdoba, Montevideo, and Lima) and in the city of Bilbao (Spain). These interviews clearly indicate a growing autonomy from the religious institution, while evidencing a rich range of experiences of God and a great diversity of God representations. In both cases, they point to processes of individualisation of believers who elaborate their own religious experience in a personal and complex way.

A Jungian Analysis of the Chinese Kitchen God Image

This article studies the impact of Kitchen God beliefs and worship on Chinese mentality and behavior, both consciously and unconsciously. At the conscious level, the evolution of the Kitchen God beliefs has gone through four stages; Nature God, Animal God, Half-animal/Half human God, and finally Human God. The evolution of the Kitchen God in China displays the features of a couple, aging and secularization. The experience of “returning to the sacred origin” can be obtained through Kitchen God worship by burning an old paper image of the Kitchen God and pasting of a new one of him beside the kitchen stove year after year during the Kitchen God festival. The secret to continuity of life lies in repetition. The image of the Kitchen God as an important graphic symbol is formed by a constellation of images; good pot and evil pot, two dragons playing with a bead, rooster and dog, the psychological archetypes as yin and yang, unity of opposites, transformation and integration. This ritual serves as a bridge between Chinese people and their “ancestors,” “the other realm” (nirvana), and “the Self.” On an unconscious level, the psychological significance of Kitchen God beliefs is analyzed through “the family hexagram.” The collective unconscious for the Chinese can be revealed by a continuous pattern of concentric circles structure, that is, “heaven and earth—the Kitchen God—ancestors—parents—offspring.” Through a clinical case using Sandplay Therapy, this article will show that Kitchen God imagery unconsciously shows the constellation of “family.” Family is the place of belonging and home for Chinese people, helping the client return to his inner source and gain strength through acceptance and transformation. The implication of Kitchen God beliefs for today’s Chinese society is to return to the most primitive “Tao,” which presents a possible cure for many kinds of psychological problems we are facing. It suggests that researchers pay attention to the psychological phenomenon of clients’ using the Kitchen God image to express their cultural feelings toward family in psychological practice.

Does religiosity inhibit the proclivity to self-forgive?

This mixed methods study explored factors associated with self-forgiveness as previous research predominantly focused on the forgiveness of others from a quantitative perspective. A convenience sample of 102 participants (35 males, 67 females; 72% Christian) was recruited using a combination of advertisements within religious buildings and social media appeals. Participants responded to self-report scales comprising the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Religious Commitment Inventory, Divine Forgiveness Scale, and the Perceptions of Forgiveness Scale. Additionally, participants completed four further open questions pertaining to their own implicit, experiential interpretations of forgiveness. We used multiple linear regression for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The results of the regression analysis found that the model accounted for 46.5% of the variance in self-forgiveness. Each predictor variable was statistically significant where divine forgiveness was a positive predictor of self-forgiveness, while religious commitment and perceived transgressions were negative predictors. Thematic analysis identified three themes: cognitive dissonance; which identified inconsistencies between self-identity and one’s behaviour; conciliatory behaviour; which explored actions taken to earn forgiveness, and God image; as either compassionate or punitive. The findings suggest that subjective interpretations of religion may have an inhibiting role on an individuals’ propensity to self-forgive. Self-forgiveness appears dependent upon other inhibiting factors including God image, adherence to doctrines of implicitly held virtues, and one’s understanding of what it means to forgive.

RELIGIOUS PERSON`S PECULARITIES OF SELF-CONSCIOUSESS

The article represents person`s peculiarities of self-consciousness with different degree of religiosity and highlights the content of religious person`s self-consciousness, depending on the particular confession. It was revealed that: - religiosity draws the content basis of the religious person`s reflection (the respondents present and name themselves though God image; God appears as the central aspect of their claim to recognition); - the religious person`s self-consciousness has a special nature which is determined by reference to the divine as an ideal-image of oneself, abidance of religious precepts and tendency to spiritual development; - religious person has a special connection and dialogue with God; - religious respondents sense faith as “the live meeting and communication with God”, “the deep inner heartfelt experience of meeting with God,” “the way of salvation,” “the attaining the meaning of life,” “the inner aspiration to God and sincere faith in His Existence" etc.; - respondents of different creeds of Christianity have different meaningful content of their reflection. The results of our research can widen theoretical knowledge and ideas of religious person`s self-consciousness, key issues and features of religious person`s reflection. The results of the study can be practically applied to the educational environment, to counseling and therapeutic sessions as well as to the other human-to-human approaches.

The professionalization of pastoral caregiving

Pastoral caregiving within a clinical setting and the parameters of interdisciplinarity and a team approach to healing and helping, cannot escape the public demand for a professional approach to caregiving i.e. safeguarding the well-being of people and patients. In this regard, differentiation in terms of theory, paradigmatic conceptualization, and directives for a base anthropology, are paramount. To detect the identity of the pastoral caregiver within the parameters of the pastoral ministry and the Christian tradition of cura animarum, the research focuses on the theological paradigm for comfort and compassion. It is argued that the professional stance of caregivers is shaped by biblical hermeneutics. The theological characteristics of pastoral interventions and engagements are determined by the appropriate God-image of compassionate being-with as pastoral exemplifications of a theologia crucis, directed by a theologia resurrectionis.

The Effects of Self-Esteem, God Image, and Gender on Coping Methods

Factors such as self-esteem, God image, and gender can affect the way an individual copes with everyday stressors. Past research has shown high self-esteem to have a significant relationship with problem-focused coping, whereas low self-esteem produced mixed results between avoidance and emotion-focused coping (Chapman & Mullis, 1999). Regarding God image, a sense of God’s presence contributed to a healthy, positive coping strategy for individuals facing difficulties (Aten et al., 2008). Studies examining the influence of gender on coping methods have generated mixed results (Cecen, 2008). The present study examined the impact of gender, self-esteem, and God image on coping methods. Participants (N = 368) completed a survey online. Results showed that gender, self-esteem, and perceiving God as Present, Benevolent, Provident, and Challenging were significant predictors of utilizing problem-focused coping, F(8, 344) = 8.27, p < .001. Gender and viewing God as Benevolent and Accepting had significant effects on emotion-focused coping, F(8, 344) = 3.44, p = .001. Lastly, perceiving God as less Accepting was a significant predictor of using avoidance to cope, F(8, 344) = 6.44, p < .001. In conclusion, given the potential impact of God image on coping, clinicians working with individuals who espouse a faith could incorporate the clients’ images of God into treatment and examine how these factors impact their ability to cope with life stressors.

Childhood Trauma and Experience in Close Relationships Are Associated with the God Image: Does Religiosity Make a Difference?

Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) and some of their specific aspects are associated with health. A negatively perceived relationship with God, which has adverse health outcomes, can be formed by human attachment both in childhood and adulthood. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of childhood trauma (CT) and experience in close relationships (ECR) with the God image in a secular environment by religiosity. A national representative sample of Czech adults (n = 1800, 51.1 ± 17.2 years; 43.5% men) participated in a survey. We measured CT (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), ECR (Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Questionnaire), image of God (questions from the 2005 Baylor Survey) and religiosity. Our results showed associations of CT and ECR with God images. Respondents who experienced CT were less likely to describe God as loving, always present and forgiving. Religious respondents were less likely to report positive God images with odds ratios (ORs) from 0.78 (0.66–0.94) to 0.95 (0.91–0.99), nonreligious respondents reported negative God images with ORs from 1.03 (1.00–1.06) to 1.22 (1.08–1.37). We found CT and problems in close relationships in adulthood are associated with a less positive God image, especially in nonreligious people. Understanding these associations may help prevent detrimental health outcomes.

Growth in Adult Ego Development and Mentalizing Emotions for an Increasingly Multidimensional God Image

Growth in cognitive complexity in the framework of adult ego development has shown to enable sophistication in mentalizing interpersonal emotions. This has implications for cultivating a more multidimensional God Image for spirituality in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The construct of mentalization will be used to understand the integration of these concepts. Empirical findings that support this conceptual integration will be explored. Clinical applications for spiritually integrated psychotherapy will follow.

God’s spirit (of wisdom) has been sent into the world, not Covid-19: A contextual systematic-theological perspective

How are we to make theological sense of the Covid-19 pandemic? In response to the viewpoint of Wilhelm Jordaan as expressed in a popular newspaper that it is foolish to understand Covid-19 as God’s punishment or nature’s way for restoration, it is critically argued that Jordaan mostly helps us with what not to think, but not so much with what to think of the current situation from a Christian theological perspective. The theological perspective that is presented in response to Jordaan takes as the vantage point a different interpretative line of an image of God (as ‘regretting/sorrow God’) over against more popular and established lines of God images such as God the Almighty. It is argued that the different God image of a ‘silent God’ and the need for wisdom that is prompted by the image challenges us here and now with an invitation to take (self)responsibility for the Covid-19-pandemic before a silent (distanced) God.Contribution: This article represents original systematic-theological reflection on the doctrine of God and anthropology within contemporary theology-science discourses. It focuses on a Christian biblical neglected God image of a ‘regretting/sorrow God’ (Genesis) in relation to embodied personhood within the current Covid-19 pandemic. It proposes a newly formulated understanding of a ‘silent God’ on the one hand and human self-responsibility and the seeking of wisdom on the other hand.