Visscher, Josyanne
(2018)
Meaning-making Coping Among Contemporary Science of Mind Congregations in the United States.
Master thesis, Master Concealed Knowledge Gnosticism Mysticism and Esotericism.
Abstract
This study aims to increase our knowledge regarding the Science of Mind movement in general and processes of religious coping—including meaning-making coping—within that movement. Studying the Science of Mind movement and the psychological processes of religious coping contributes to our understanding of what role religion plays in contemporary society. In other words, this research demonstrates how religion helps individuals to deal with stressful situations, and it will enable us to get a better understanding of how people shape their religious lives, and how their ideologies and practices reflect modern-day spirituality and esotericism.
The assertion that the religious practices and ideologies found within the Science of Mind movement can be employed as meaning-making coping strategies, gave rise to the following question: “To what extent do members of contemporary American Science of Mind groups employ religious meaning-making strategies in order to cope with stressful events?” This question is the main focus of the current study, using psychological religious coping and meaning-making theories as a theoretical framework. A combination of different research methods was employed in order to obtain knowledge of the different religious coping strategies present within the Science of Mind movement, including literature analysis and survey research. The data gathered was analysed both quantitatively as well as qualitatively.
The results show that spiritual connection, religious helping, seeking spiritual support, collaborative religious coping, seeking support from clergy and members, and benevolent religious reappraisal [meaning-making coping] are frequently used by Science of Mind members. This supports the claim that meaning-making coping is an important religious coping strategy that coexists with other important religious strategies.
Therefore, the concepts of religious coping and meaning-making appear to be in a dynamic relationship. This eliminates the assumption that meaning-making coping is superior to the religious coping strategies as formulated by Pargament or vice versa. This may direct future research on the processes of religious coping and meaning-making coping.
| Type: |
Thesis
(Master)
|
| Supervisors (RUG): |
| Supervisor | E-mail | Tutor organization | Tutor email |
|---|
| Visser-Nieraeth, A. | A.Visser-Nieraeth@rug.nl | | | | Weir, T.H. | T.H.Weir@rug.nl | | |
|
| Degree programme: |
Master Concealed Knowledge Gnosticism Mysticism and Esotericism |
| Academic year: |
2017- 2018 |
| Date of delivery: |
12 Oct 2018 |
| Last modified: |
12 Oct 2018 09:42 |
| URI: |
https://ggw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/412 |
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