God as a Secure Base: Attachment to God and Theological Exploration

Beck, Richard

doi:10.1177/009164710603400202

Cited by 67 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…These behaviors may indicate proximityseeking or a referencing back to Allah as a secure base. Further, in separation protest, wherein Christians experience a sense that they have been abandoned by God and lament their 'dark night of the soul' can also indicate attachment (Beck, 2006). Similar attachment behaviors can be discerned in Muslims' relating to Allah, as are discussed below.…”

Section: Attachment Behaviors Of Believersmentioning

confidence: 89%

Attachment to God in Islamic Spirituality

Bonab¹,

Miner²,

Proctor³

2013

Journal of Muslim Mental Health

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The aim of this investigation was to explore the quality of attachment to the divine in Islamic spirituality. Theories of attachment to God have been developed with respect to the Christian faith, but it is important to explore whether Allah functions as an attachment figure in Islamic theology. Specifically, the paper considers whether believers generally seek proximity to Allah as a safe haven in times of distress; use Allah as a secure base for living in the world; and view their relationship with Allah in terms of dependency, closeness, and alleviation of anxiety. To this end, five types of Islamic texts were reviewed: a) the beautiful names of Allah (divine attributes) for any attributes that signify Allah as a caring, nourishing, and omnipresent attachment figure; b) stories of the Qur'an that signify dynamic attachment relations between Allah, His prophets, and servants; c) verses of the 78 Bagher Ghobary Bonab, Maureen Miner, and Marie-Therese Proctor Qur'an that emphasize the caring and supportive relationship between Allah and His servants; d) divine sayings and prophetic inspirations that underscore Allah as a caring and supportive attachment figure; and e) suggested supplications which reveal individuals' deep and dynamic relations with Allah. The possibility of insecure attachment to Allah was also examined. The results of this theoretical study indicated that Allah functions as an attachment figure for believers, and most believers' rituals and behaviors are based on proximity-seeking to Allah. Implications of the current review for the conceptualization of attachment to Allah in Islamic spirituality and for scale development of relevance to Muslims' mental health are discussed.

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Section: Attachment Behaviors Of Believersmentioning

confidence: 89%

Attachment to God in Islamic Spirituality

Bonab¹,

Miner²,

Proctor³

2013

Journal of Muslim Mental Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The scale has demonstrated evidence of internal consistency (α = .85; Beck & Jessup, 2004) and construct validity (Beck & Jessup, 2004). The exploration subscale was negatively correlated with both anxious-ambivalent and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment, suggesting it may represent a secure base for spiritual exploration (Beck, 2006b). Cronbach's alpha for the subscale in this study was .84.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Calvinism, Gender Ideology, and Relational Spirituality: An Empirical Investigation of Worldview Differences

Sandage

Jankowski

Crabtree

et al. 2017

Journal of Psychology and Theology

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Participants were grouped on the basis of theological beliefs about divine-human and female-male dynamics using cluster analysis. We then explored whether these subgroups might differ on (a) hierarchical social expectations, (b) commitments to social justice and intercultural competence, (c) religious exploration, (d) existential defensiveness, (e) views of psychology -theology integration, and (f) perspectives on women's leadership. The sample consisted of graduate students (N = 227) at an Evangelical seminary in the Midwestern United States. Results yielded a four-cluster solution. Individuals scoring high on both Calvinist theological beliefs and complementarian gender role beliefs scored significantly higher on hierarchical relationship expectations and existential defensiveness, and preferred a Christian psychology view of integration and a male headship perspective of leadership, compared to those scoring low on Calvinism and complementarianism. In contrast, individuals scoring low on both theological dimensions scored higher on Arminianism, gender egalitarianism, social justice commitment, intercultural competence commitment, religious exploration, and they preferred an integration view of psychology and theology and a "no restrictions" perspective on women's roles. Findings highlight implications for theological training and spiritual formation.

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“…Research suggests that insecure attachment to sacred objects functions in a similar way (Beck, 2006;Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008;Hall & Edwards, 2002). For example, Beck (2006) asserts that insecure attachment to God can be characterised by a maladaptive combination of intimacy avoidance and abandonment anxiety.…”

Section: Insecure Attachment To Godmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual barriers to humility: a multidimensional study

Sandage

Paine

Hill

2015

Mental Health, Religion & Culture

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Many spiritual and religious traditions view spiritual pride as contrary to humility; however, the rising empirical research on spirituality and humility has involved limited investigation of the variety of spiritual barriers that inhibit a humble disposition. The present study investigated three distinct spiritual barriers (spiritual grandiosity, insecure attachment to God, and hunger for idealisation) as independent predictors of dispositional humility among graduate trainees in the helping professions (N = 162) from a Protestant-affiliated university in the USA. Results indicated that each construct of interest predicted lower levels of humility when controlling for both spiritual impression management and the other spiritual barriers. These findings supported theoretical assertions of the discriminant validity of each independent variable in predicting lower levels of humility and supported construct validity of the humility measure. Conceptual considerations and suggestions for future research and graduate training are discussed.

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God as a Secure Base: Attachment to God and Theological Exploration

Cited by 67 publications

References 19 publications

Attachment to God in Islamic Spirituality

Attachment to God in Islamic Spirituality

Calvinism, Gender Ideology, and Relational Spirituality: An Empirical Investigation of Worldview Differences

Spiritual barriers to humility: a multidimensional study

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