Measuring Religiosity/Spirituality: Theoretical Differentiations and Categorization of Instruments
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2011, Vol 2, Issue 3
Abstract
There is a multitude of instruments for measuring religiosity/spirituality. Many of these questionnaires are used or even were developed in the context of studies about the connection between religiosity/spirituality and health. Thus, it seems crucial to note that measures can focus on quite different components along a hypothetical path between stressors and health. We present an instructive model which helps to identify these different components and allows the categorization of instruments of religiosity/spirituality according to their primary measurement intention: intensity/centrality, resources, needs, coping, and quality of life/well-being. Furthermore, we point out possibilities as to how religiosity and spirituality can be differentiated. We argue that the distinction between religiosity and spirituality is important in countries with a more secular background where a growing number of people identify themselves as “spiritual, but not religious”.
Authors and Affiliations
Christian Zwingmann, Constantin Klein and Arndt Büssing
The Relative Effectiveness of the Minimum Wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit as Anti-Poverty Tools
In the search for effective measures to combat poverty, two government policies have been given much attention. One is the establishment of a federal minimum wage to help workers secure a decent standard of living. The...
The Green Revolution in the World’s Religions: Indonesian Examples in International Comparison
Similar to progressive political movements, the programs of many religious and spiritual groups today are converging around a shared commitment to address the impending global ecological crisis. The paper explores this...
Stay Your Blade
In their article ‘Transmedial worlds: Rethinking cyberworld design’, Klastrup and Tosca show that the core elements of a Transmedial World are: Mythos, the lore of the world, the central knowledge necessary to interpre...
Augustine’s Introduction to Political Philosophy: Teaching De Libero Arbitrio, Book I
Book I of Augustine’s work On Free Choice (De Libero Arbitrio) offers a helpful introduction to some of the most important themes of political philosophy. The paper makes a case for teaching this text in introductory c...
‘Requiescat in Pace’. Initiation and Assassination Rituals in the Assassin’s Creed Game Series
The Assassin’s Creed game series (Ubisoft 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013a, 2013b, 2014, 2015, 2017) revolves around an alternative interpretation of human history as an ongoing battle between two rival factions: th...