Multi-case exploration of spiritual formation at four seminaries (Fuller, Truett, Talbot, TEDS) addressing the lack of institutional definitions of "personal and spiritual formation" under ATS 2020 standards.

KEYWORDS: character/virtue; spiritual formation; theological education

DESCRIPTION: Financial stress can affect seminary students across multiple dimensions of well-being, including spiritual, mental, and relational health. Using data from 189 students at five theological seminaries, this study examines whether spiritual health helps explain how financial stress relates to broader health outcomes. Structural equation modeling found that spiritual health accounted for part of the negative relationship between financial stress and both mental and relational health. The authors suggest that supporting students’ spiritual health may be an important component of interventions aimed at improving the holistic well-being of seminarians facing financial strain.

KEYWORDS: financial health; financial stress; holistic health; mental health; relational health; seminary students; spiritual health; student debt; student well-being; theological education

DESCRIPTION: This longitudinal study examines how different types of prayer relate to anxiety, depression, and burnout among 564 seminary students from 17 theological schools. Colloquial, liturgical, and meditative prayer predicted lower experiential avoidance, which in turn was associated with fewer mental health symptoms; petitionary prayer showed no significant direct or indirect effects. The findings suggest that prayer practices may contribute to spiritual and character formation partly by helping seminarians remain engaged with difficult thoughts and emotions rather than avoiding them, with implications for student formation, mentorship, and well-being.

KEYWORDS: anxiety; burnout; character formation; COVID-19; depression; experiential avoidance; mental health; prayer; psychological flexibility; seminarians; spiritual formation; spiritual practices; student well-being

Practical theology article proposing a virtue-based model of caring and Christian formation grounded in moral psychology and Wesleyan thought.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; generative care virtues of generative care; journal article; moral likeness model of spiritual maturity; practical theology; Wesley's affectional moral psychology

DESCRIPTION: Financial hardship can affect seminary students in ways that extend beyond material strain. Drawing on a sample of 189 graduate students from ATS-accredited seminaries, this study examines relationships among financial well-being, shame, depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The findings show that lower financial well-being was associated with greater shame, which in turn mediated relationships between financial distress and depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The authors suggest that shame may be an important mechanism for understanding the broader psychological and spiritual effects of financial hardship and student debt among seminarians.

KEYWORDS: anxiety; depression; financial distress; financial well-being; mental health; seminary students; shame; spiritual well-being; student debt; student well-being

Special Issue (book/journal reprint) of established and newly-developed instruments for measuring spirituality and religiosity across diverse populations, traditions, and clinical contexts, serving as a resource for spiritual care research.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; active duty military / veterans; attachment theory; Attachment to God Inventory (AGI); attitudes toward religion; Catholics; clinical setting; elderly; evaluation; exploratory factor analysis; factorial structure; gratitude; growth; healthy persons; Islam; measurement; moral injury; Muslims; post-traumatic stress disorder; psychometric properties; questionnaire; religiosity; religious beliefs; scoping review; Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM); spiritual jihad; spiritual needs; spiritual struggles; spiritual well-being; spirituality; structural equation modeling (SEM); styles of attachment; transcultural adaptation; validation

Conceptual article proposing a meta-theory of positive spiritual change to undergird the development of a generalizable, reliable measurement tool for spiritual, character, and moral formation in seminarians.

KEYWORDS: psychology of religion; spiritual assessment; spiritual formation; spirituality

Longitudinal study of 119 graduate seminary students testing seven hypotheses from a relational spirituality model regarding intrinsic religiosity, questing, spiritual openness, well-being, and activity over time.

KEYWORDS: development; longitudinal; religion; seminary; spirituality; well-being

USCCB pastoral resource (2005) guiding the development of lay ecclesial ministry through integral formation, theological preparation, professional competence, certification, and pastoral collaboration.

KEYWORDS: agents of formation; Catholicism; certification and credentialing; formation pathways; integral formation; lay ecclesial ministry; pastoral collaboration; professional competence; spiritual development; theological preparation; vocation