Deconversion and Religious or Spiritual Transformation

Keller, Barbara; Klein, Constantin; Hood, Ralph W.; Streib, Heinz

doi:10.14220/9783737000994.119

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Skeptical and seeking introduces an element of weeding out other sacred seeds now devoid of mystery. Spiritual struggles (Exline, 2013), sacred loss, and deconversion (Keller et al, 2013) stir up energy for discovering new forms of the sacred. Participants’ inherited understandings of the Gods bound up with conventional religion were perceived as condoning the spiritual bypassing (use of spiritual ideas and practices to avoid facing difficult or unresolved issues; Picciotto et al, 2018; Welwood, 1984) of sociocultural issues (climate change, racism, inequality).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

Deal¹,

Magyar‐Russell²

2022

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

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Sanctification theory describes the process by which objects are perceived as sacred and has been a relatively recent focal point for research in the psychology of religion and spirituality. Quantitative research has examined sanctification extensively across multiple life domains. Yet, a fundamental question remains unresolved: what does the process of sacred-making actually look like? Hints exist for theism, but there remains a gap where nontheism is concerned. Sanctification theory needs to be examined insofar as it is able to generalize to nontheist groups. Through a narrative phenomenological approach, this study addressed these questions by examining how twelve participants arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience to protect and preserve nature came to experience nature as sacred. Findings suggest that sanctifying the earth is enacted through five inter-related themes: early experiences of imprinting, experiences of immanent transcendence, connecting crisis to sociocultural norms, skeptical and seeking, and interconnection and integration. The discussion brings the themes into dialogue with sanctification theory, provides insights regarding sanctification for nontheist individuals, and describes how to integrate these ideas into clinical work and applied settings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

Deal¹,

Magyar‐Russell²

2022

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

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“…For an introduction to deconversion from high-tension groups in different cultural contexts, we first present two deconverts from Jehovah's Witnesses (JW), elaborating on an earlier analysis (Keller et al, 2013). Besides having deconverted from the same group, "Franz" in Germany and "Tom" in the United States shared important characteristics.…”

Section: Two Cases Of Deconvertsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In terms of religious styles and faith development, Franz's narrative corresponds to a lateral deconversion, a deconversion without developmental change (cf. Streib et al, 2009, Keller et al, 2013. His deconversion narrative was classified as "debarred from Paradise," since the focus of Franz's account is on loss.…”

Section: Two Cases Of Deconvertsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconversion from High-tension Religious Groups

Keller¹,

Bullik²,

Streib³

2023

Preprint

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This chapter addresses emotional, cognitive, and biographical changes related to processes of deconversion, or leaving a religious organization – with special attention to exiting high-tension groups. We review predictors of deconversion as well as short-term and long-term changes in psychological well-being and growth. Drawing on our own longitudinal research, we discuss impacts on individuals’ consecutive autobiographical narratives and psychometric profiles. Research documents various trajectories for conversion as well as for deconversion. Those can be understood by (1) attending to development across the human life-span situated in historical and geographical context and (2) identifying general trends as well as particularities. A cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural perspective on deconversion from high-tension groups is useful because vocabularies are used in different ways in different relevant fields of science and application and, in addition, in different cultural contexts. The chapter closes by proposing an interdisciplinary and global research paradigm and with an outlook on leaving high tension groups and disaffiliating from high tension worldviews.

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“…Besides being useful for quantitative analysis, the conceptualization of religious types allows to distinguish between structural and lateral deconversion (Fowler, 1981;Keller, Klein, Hood & Streib, 2013). Structural deconversion consists in moving upward in the hierarchy of style-based types.…”

Section: Identifying and Following Religious Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 4: Following Deconverts and Traditionalists. Longitudinal Case Study Construction

Keller¹,

Bullik²,

Steppacher³

et al. 2021

Deconversion Revisited

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Case study construction in longitudinal perspective means to follow a single case across time based on the consecutive Faith Development Interviews (FDIs) and drawing on psychometric data. We regard the interviews as the focus of our current study. Therefore, in this chapter, we first look into the history of method development. Then, we present the basic method, the Faith Development Interview, and explain the structural evaluation according to the model of religious styles. Next, we turn to content, to what was said at different points in time in the domains of the FDI, to narratives and to key aspects already defined or newly emerging. Working in longitudinal perspective, we are interested in tracing change as well as stability. We do this by comparing the interviews obtained at the time of the original Deconversion Study (Streib, Hood, Keller, Csöff, & Silver, 2009)-in this volume referred to as Time 1-, and at the time of re-interviewing-here referred to as Time 2, which means after a time span of about 10 years. These are interpreted against the background of the differences and similarities of psychometric profiles obtained at both points of measurement. As an outlook, we discuss ongoing methodological innovation and how to balance this with continuity in longitudinal research. 4.1The Faith Development Interview: A Short HistoryThe Faith Development Interview was designed by James Fowler (1981) and his team , DeNicola & Fowler, 1993. The theory underlying this instrument is based on Fowler's broad concept of "faith. " Fowler, with reference to Cantwell Smith (1963, 1979), defined "faith" as a person's constructions and reconstructions of everyday experience in light of the ultimate conditions of existence, thus as ways of meaning-making in response to transcendent centers of value and power (cf. Fowler, 1981, p. 92-93). This conceptualization of "faith" is very broad, open, and inclusive-aiming at a kind of common core of the various religious and worldview traditions, embracing theistic and non-theistic worldviews, and also ways of apparently non-religious meaning-making. This is different from "religion, " which, according to Cantwell Smith, designates the cumulative traditions (institutions, texts, religious traditions) and from "belief, " which means consent to

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Deconversion and Religious or Spiritual Transformation

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

Deconversion from High-tension Religious Groups

Chapter 4: Following Deconverts and Traditionalists. Longitudinal Case Study Construction

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