A Moment of Anger, a Lifetime of Favor: Image of God, Personality, and Orthodox Religiosity

Eurelings-Bontekoe, Elisabeth H.M.; Schaap‐Jonker, Hanneke

doi:10.1002/9780470682203.ch20

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…For example, Eurelings-Bontekoe and Luyten (2010) found that growing up in an Orthodox-Reformed Christian environment had an inhibitory effect on the expression of antisocial behavior among patients with an impulsive (low-level borderline PO) temperament (Eurelings-Bontekoe and Luyten, 2010). Although many studies suggest that representations of God as ruling and punishing are associated with psychopathology per se, in the Netherlands, these God representations have also been found to be (more) closely associated with the “cultural” variable Orthodox-Reformed Christian affiliation (Eurelings-Bontekoe and Schaap-Jonker, 2010; Schaap-Jonker et al, 2008; cf. Schaap-Jonker et al, 2017).…”

Section: God Representations and Religious Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

God Representation Types Are Associated With Levels of Personality Organization and Christian Religious Orthodox Culture

Velde¹,

Schaap‐Jonker²,

Eurelings-Bontekoe

et al. 2021

J Nerv Ment Dis

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This exploratory study shows that God representation types are associated with levels of personality organization. Among two Dutch samples of psychiatric patients (n = 136) and nonpatients (n = 161), we found associations between the psychotic, borderline, and neurotic personality organizations, and passive-unemotional, negative-authoritarian, and positive-authoritative God representation types, respectively. Both patients and nonpatients reported positive God representations, but only nonpatients and higher-level functioning patients reported an integrated God-object relation. For persons with personality pathology, the relationship with God can be a struggle and might have a defensive and/or compensating function. In addition to personality organization, Christian religious orthodox culture is a statistical predictor of God representations, but not of anger toward God. We offer suggestions for how psychotherapeutic work with God representations might differ for patients with different levels of personality organization.

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Section: God Representations and Religious Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

God Representation Types Are Associated With Levels of Personality Organization and Christian Religious Orthodox Culture

Velde¹,

Schaap‐Jonker²,

Eurelings-Bontekoe

et al. 2021

J Nerv Ment Dis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

Schaap‐Jonker¹,

Velde²,

Eurelings-Bontekoe

et al. 2017

The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion

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As God representations are multi-facetted psychological processes regarding the personal meaning of God/the divine to the individual, this study examines how multiple aspects of God representations are configured within individuals belonging to a sample of psychiatric patients or a nonpatient sample, and how these configurations are associated with mental health. By means of cluster analyses, three types of God representations were found: a Positive-Authoritative one, a Passive-Unemotional one, and, only among psychiatric patients, a Negative-Authoritarian one. Types of God representations were significantly related to affective state, as well as religious saliency and religious background. Patients with the negative type of God representation were more distressed and depressed, and Orthodox-Reformed patients reported significantly more negative types of God representations. This study demonstrates the value of a person-oriented approach, by showing that scale scores became especially meaningful in the context of the types, which enables more nuanced distinctions regarding subgroups. God representations as multidimensional processes God representations are mental representations of the individuals' perceived relationship to God or the divine. They reflect both subjective experiences of God/the divine (e.g., experiences that are characterized by trust, thankfulness, fear or disappointment) and religious beliefs concerning God/ the divine (e.g., God as the ground of being, a judge, a helping ultimate power) in a highly personal way. Psychological factors (such as attachment style and personality) and religio-cultural factors affect the content and structure of God representations. As core aspects of religiousness, God representations-both traditional, personal, and theistic ones, and impersonal, abstract ones-give a unique insight into the meaning of religious life and religious behavior (

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2011

Journal of Psychology and Theology

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This section of the Journal attempts to keep readers informed of current resources of an integrative nature or those related to the general field of the psychology of religion appearing in other professional journals. A wide range of psychological and theological journals are surveyed regularly in search of such resources. The editor of the Journal File welcomes correspondence from readers concerning relevant theoretical or research articles in domestic or foreign journals which contribute directly or indirectly to the task and process of integration and to an understanding of the psychology of religion.

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A Moment of Anger, a Lifetime of Favor: Image of God, Personality, and Orthodox Religiosity

Cited by 5 publications

References 25 publications

God Representation Types Are Associated With Levels of Personality Organization and Christian Religious Orthodox Culture

God Representation Types Are Associated With Levels of Personality Organization and Christian Religious Orthodox Culture

Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

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