This study focuses on the requirement of JWs to refuse medical blood transfusions. We identified a life-death cognitive dissonance among JWs, with the opposing cognitions of being willing to sacrifice life by religious standards, while being unwilling to do so. Using a theory that connects cognitive dissonance with the need to regulate difficult emotions to analyze our qualitative data material, we identified two sets of dissonance reduction strategies among the JWs. Set 1 was tied to the individual-group: selective focus on eternal life, a non-blood support and control system, and increased individualization of treatment choices. Set 2 was in the religion versus medicine intersection: denial of risk combined with optimism, perception of blood as dangerous, and use of medical language to underscore religious doctrine.

The aim of this qualitative interview study was to explore the specific expectations that N = 29 Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) had of end times and paradise using an emotion regulation perspective. Beyond the general eschatological doctrine of JWs, the participants were encouraged to report their individual beliefs and connected emotions. Thematic analysis identified forecasting of life in paradise in the form of a continuation of physical life but with an overall positive emotional atmosphere. Emotionally, paradise was often contrasted with the present time, as negative emotions and the downregulation of strong positive emotions dominate the current end time. As an emotion regulation strategy between current end times and future paradise, emotional forecasting, i.e., predicting which emotions would arise in the future to regulate present-day emotions, is used. The results are discussed in the frame of positive and negative psychological implications of JWs’ eschatological beliefs and emotional forecasting.

F. 1959. Dr.theol. Professor i systematisk teologi ved Det teologiske menighetsfakultet. harald.hegstad@mf.no SAMMENDRAG Forstått som sakramentalt tegn viser dåpen både til Guds gjerning med mennesket i og med selve dåpshandlingen (dåpen som hendelse) og til det Gud vil gjøre i den døptes liv fram mot at tegnet får sin endelige oppfyllelse i Guds rike (dåpen som prosess). I oppgjøret med et baptistisk dåpssyn har luthersk teologi ofte ensidig understreket den første dimensjonen. En fornyet forståelse av tegnbegrepet har de senere årene ført til at ulike dåpsteolo-giske tradisjoner har kunnet naerme seg hverandre gjennom i større grad å holde disse to dimensjonene sammen. En slik forståelse av sammenhengen mellom dåpen som hendelse og dåpen som prosess finner også støtte i Martin Luthers dåpsteologi.Nøkkelord dåp, sakrament, tegn, økumenikk, Martin Luther ABSTRACT As a sacramental sign, baptism points towards God's work in the act of baptism (baptism as event) and towards God's continuing work in the life of the baptized until the final fulfilment in the coming Kingdom of God (baptism as process). In the critique of a Baptist understanding of baptism, Lutheran theology has often one-sidedly emphasized the first dimension. A renewed understanding of baptism as sign has, in recent ecumenical development, brought churches closer to each other by increasingly holding the two dimensions of baptism together. Such an understanding of the connection between baptism as event and baptism as process also finds support in the baptismal theology of Martin Luther.

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The aim of this study was to explore which group-based emotion regulation goals and strategies are offered in the group culture of Jehovah's Witnesses (JWS). Based on interviews with 29 group-active JWS in Norway, a thematic analysis was conducted in which an overall pattern of cognition taking precedence over emotions was found. Due to endtime expectations and a long-term goal of eternal life in Paradise, future emotions were prioritized. The emotion regulation strategies identified among JWS were social sharing and the interconnected cognitive reappraisal. A new concept, emotional forecasting, was introduced, describing a reappraisal tactic of regulation using prospects of future emotions to regulate the here and now. It was concluded that the prospection of the future is a strong regulator of emotions of the here and now and should be included in psychological models of emotion regulation.