Resource Hub
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Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Relationship between Prayer Type and Mental Health before and through the COVID-19 Pandemic
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
Ecumenical and Traditioned Measurement: Measuring Christian Maturation across Distinct Traditions of Christian Spirituality
Article exploring the feasibility of an ecumenical measure of Christian maturation by drawing on five distinct traditions (African American, Anglican, Benedictine, Pentecostal, Reformed) and four navigation strategies.
KEYWORDS: ecumenical spirituality; measurement; psychology of religion/spirituality; spiritual assessment; spiritual formation
The Experience of Financial Well-Being, Shame, and Mental Health Outcomes in Seminary Students
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
Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity (2018)
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
Measuring the Spiritual, Character, and Moral Formation of Seminarians: In Search of a Meta-Theory of Spiritual Change
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
Re-Engaging the Wesleyan-Holiness Tradition in Response to Diversification and Fragmentation in Theological Education
Case study of Nazarene Theological Seminary's Wesleyan-Holiness approach to spiritual formation curriculum and assessment amid diversification and fragmentation of theological learning platforms and contexts.
KEYWORDS: assessment; curriculum; diversification; spiritual formation; Wesleyan-Holiness
Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry
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
On the Priesthood
St John Chrysostom’s (347-407 CE) classic treatise on the dignity, responsibility, and spiritual demands of the Christian priesthood, originally written as a dialogue in six books
KEYWORDS: open access / free access; asceticism; book; early church clergy; Eastern Christianity; ecclesiastical office; moral authority; pastoral care; pastoral theology; Patristics; preaching; priesthood; spiritual formation