Experiences of Divine Grace Among Christian Friends

Abstract

Although topics of prayer, forgiveness, and gratitude have received attention in the psychology of religion, there is sparse literature regarding the concept of grace. Thirty interviews were conducted with Friends (Quakers) in the Pacific Northwest, using a semi-structured interview developed for a larger study of how Christians from various denominations experience grace. Four organizing themes were derived from the interview questions and then grounded theory was used to uncover associated subthemes within each organizing theme. Participants emphasized the loving nature of God and how grace is a transforming relational experience with God that helps people move toward wholeness and completeness. Although participants sometimes linked grace with questions of eternal destiny, it was also associated with being fully accepted and loved by God in the present moment. Many expressed concerns about conservative Christian perspectives of grace that seem to overly focus on being saved from hell, instead preferring views of grace that are inclusive and available to all. Ongoing disciplines of grace included being in nature, community relationships, creative expressions, prayer, quiet, and reading sacred texts. These findings are consistent with historical and contemporary distinctives of Friends. Implications for future research are considered.

The interplay of divine grace with forgiveness and humility in mainline Protestant Christianity: A consensual qualitative approach.

“…The assumption that a divine being offers grace is an important element of many faith traditions (Tennent, 2007), and it is especially present in Abrahamic faith traditions (i.e., Christianity, Judaism, Islam; Emmons et al, 2017). Due to the centrality of grace in Abrahamic faith traditions, recent attempts have been made to describe experiences of, and beliefs about, grace within several groups of Christianity (e.g., Mainline Protestant Christians, LGBTQ+ Christians, Christian Friends [i.e., Quakers]; Hodge et al, 2023; Schollars et al, 2021; Webster et al, 2022). Although theological and psychological reflections on grace have distinguished grace as a virtue apart from other related virtues (e.g., altruism, forgiveness), Christians in these qualitative studies primarily defined grace as forgiveness (Schollars et al, 2021), love (Webster et al, 2022), or a combination of many different virtues, including forgiveness and love (Hodge et al, 2020).…”

“…Due to the centrality of grace in Abrahamic faith traditions, recent attempts have been made to describe experiences of, and beliefs about, grace within several groups of Christianity (e.g., Mainline Protestant Christians, LGBTQ+ Christians, Christian Friends [i.e., Quakers]; Hodge et al, 2023; Schollars et al, 2021; Webster et al, 2022). Although theological and psychological reflections on grace have distinguished grace as a virtue apart from other related virtues (e.g., altruism, forgiveness), Christians in these qualitative studies primarily defined grace as forgiveness (Schollars et al, 2021), love (Webster et al, 2022), or a combination of many different virtues, including forgiveness and love (Hodge et al, 2020). In other words, it appears that grace is difficult to describe outside of other benevolent relational terms (e.g., love, forgiveness).…”

The experience of, and beliefs about, divine grace in mainline protestant Christianity: A consensual qualitative approach

“…These studies utilized the same interview protocol to explore experiences of Divine Grace within various Christian denominations. These studies focused on experiences of, and beliefs about, grace in older Protestants (Baker et al, 2020), Evangelical Christians (Snow, 2020), Roman Catholics (Harwood et al, 2021), LDS (Rush et al, 2022), LGBTQ Christians (Schollars et al, 2021), and Christian Friends (Quakers; Webster et al, 2022). Whereas there were many similarities between these studies, there were also unique distinctions (e.g., many Christian Friends expressed concerns about grace being overly focused on being saved from hell whereas Evangelical protestants saw grace as being very connected to salvation).…”

Theology’s Concern for Wellbeing and Human Flourishing: A Research Program

“…Recent empirical studies have tried to better describe such a dynamic, revealing personal perceptions about grace effects. This is a field that needs to be pursued by theological means and connected with our own tradition and wisdom about grace and its effects or transforming force (Emmons et al 2017;Judd et al 2020;Basset et al 2020;Harwood et al 2021;Webster et al 2022). From my own point of view, Revelation and Tradition should not be a major obstacle when trying to undertake the proposed perspective.…”