The overall purpose of this study was to examine the role of core dimensions of theistic relational spirituality (doctrinal God representations, experiential God representations, and doctrinal–experiential congruence) in divine spiritual struggles among Christians engaging in spiritually integrated psychotherapies. In total, 189 clients completed a modified version of Johnson et al.’s (2015) A/B God Scales as well as quantitative and qualitative assessments of divine spiritual struggles. When accounting for religious commitment and depression symptoms as covariates, clients with stronger authoritarian and benevolent representations of God were more and less likely, respectively, to be experiencing spiritual struggles (assessed with Exline et al.’s 2014 Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale [RSS]). In addition, doctrinal–experiential discrepancy in benevolent God representations was associated with RSS scores as well as qualitative themes reflecting ways in which religious attachment provided comfort (e.g., stronger relationship with God, finding meaning or purpose, seeking support from God) and/or strain (e.g., disconnect or strain with God, feeling punished by God, reappraisal of divine power) in clients’ lives. Specifically, clients who endorsed greater theological or conceptual knowledge of a loving God relative to their felt experience of divine love, on average, reported more spiritual struggles and were less able to draw comfort from their religious attachment bond at the time of the study. Findings affirm the need for further research on doctrinal–experiential congruence and support the value of clinicians conducting spiritually integrated psychotherapies with Christians to adequately attend to benevolent and authoritarian God representations that might facilitate or hinder their clients’ progress in treatment.
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