Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Points of Departure

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Understanding “Spirituality”—Conceptual Considerations

      • Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 3-17

   3. Deconversion and “Spirituality”—Migrations in the Religious Field

      • Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood Jr., Barbara Keller

      Pages 19-26

   4. Investigating “Spirituality”: Between Survey Data and the Study of Biographies

      • Heinz Streib, Constantin Klein, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 27-38

   5. Design, Methods, and Sample Characteristics of the Bielefeld-Based Cross-Cultural Study of “Spirituality”

      • Barbara Keller, Heinz Streib, Christopher F. Silver, Constantin Klein, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 39-51

   6. Who Is “Spiritual”?

      • Barbara Keller, Constantin Klein, Anne Swhajor-Biesemann, Heinz Streib

      Pages 53-67

3. Semantics of “Spirituality”

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69

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   2. Is “Spirituality” Nothing but “Religion”? An Indirect Measurement Approach

      • Constantin Klein, Ralph W. Hood, Christopher F. Silver, Barbara Keller, Heinz Streib

      Pages 71-85

   3. Semantic Differentials Open New Perspectives on the Semantic Field of “Spirituality” and “Religion”

      • Heinz Streib, Barbara Keller, Constantin Klein, Anne Swhajor-Biesemann, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 87-103

   4. “Spirituality” and “Religion”—Corpus Analysis of Subjective Definitions in the Questionnaire

      • Stefan Altmeyer, Constantin Klein

      Pages 105-123

   5. Dimensions of “Spirituality”: The Semantics of Subjective Definitions

      • Clemens Eisenmann, Constantin Klein, Anne Swhajor-Biesemann, Uwe Drexelius, Barbara Keller, Heinz Streib

      Pages 125-151

   6. “Fuzziness” or Semantic Diversification? Insights About the Semantics of “Spirituality” in Cross-Cultural Comparison (Conclusion)

      • Ralph W. Hood Jr., Heinz Streib

      Pages 153-161

4. Measuring Characteristics and Effects of “Spirituality”

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163

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   2. “Spirituality” and Mysticism

      • Constantin Klein, Christopher F. Silver, Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood Jr., Thomas J. Coleman III

      Pages 165-187

   3. Personality Dimensions and Versions of “Spirituality”

      • Heinz Streib, Constantin Klein, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 189-203

   4. Religious Schemata and “Spirituality”

      • Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood Jr., Constantin Klein

      Pages 205-218

   5. Coordinates for Mapping “Spirituality”

      • Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

      Pages 219-235

5. Biographical Analyses—Methodological Perspectives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 237-237

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   2. The Faith Development Interview: Methodological Considerations

      • Heinz Streib, Michele Wollert, Barbara Keller

      Pages 239-249

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.

• Cross-Cultural Study of Spirituality
• Deconversion and Spirituality
• Empirical Studies on Spirituality
• Personality and Spirituality
• Positive Adult Development and Spirituality
• Psychological Well-Being and Spirituality
• Psychology of Religion
• Spiritual and Religious Development
• Spirituality and Psychological Crisis
• Spirituality and Religion in Germany and Europe
• Spirituality and Religion in the United States
• Understanding Spirituality
• Varieties of “Spiritual” Biographies

“The book’s chapters, most of which could be read as separate research articles, together address the question of what the word ‘spirituality’ is popularly understood to mean, especially when it is counterposed with the term ‘religion,’ as in the familiar phrase ‘spiritual but not religious.’ … this is an exceptionally comprehensive and often-technical book … . this book can be viewed as a catalogue of research methods and types of knowledge gained.” (Peter la Cour, The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, August, 2016)

• University of Bielefeld Professor of Religious Education, Bielefeld, Germany

  Heinz Streib

• Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, USA

  Ralph W. Hood, Jr.

Heinz Streib (M.A. 1977, Tübingen University; Ph.D. 1989, Emory University, Habilitation 1995, Frankfurt University) has established the Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion at the University of Bielefeld and has conducted there a series of empirical studies – several of them in cooperation with Ralph Hood (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). Streib’s major third-party funded research projects are the following: Fundamentalist Biographies (1996-1998, for an Enquete Commission of the German Parliament), Varieties of Deconversion in the USA and Germany (2002-2005), “Spirituality” in Germany and the USA (2009-2012), Xenophobia and Xenosophia between the Abrahamic Religions (2011-2015) and the study of religious development in longitudinal perspective in the USA and Germany (2014/2015 - current). Other research interests include: Theory and research in religious development in terms of religious styles and schemata, violence and inter-religious prejudice in school and adolescents’ readiness for mediation.

Ralph W. Hood Jr. is professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a former editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and a former co-editor of the Archive for the Psychology of Religion and The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. He is a past president of division 36 of the American Psychological Association and a recipient of its William James award. He has published several hundred articles and numerous book chapters in the psychology of religion and has authored, co-authored or edited fifteen books, all dealing with the psychology of religion.

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