Annotated Bibliography.

Journal of Psychology and Christianity

2016, Vol. 35, No.1, 9-21

Copyright 2016 Christian Association for Psychological Studies

ISSN 0733-4273

9

variables (Pargament, Mahoney, Exline, Jones, & Shafranske, 2013). Despite the significant find- ings with church attendance, few researchers have examined the “black box of church atten- dance” (Idler et al., 2009) to identify key factors in the church services, such as corporate wor- ship, that may contribute to these associations. Pargament (2013) noted that by experiencing sermons and engaging in worship, church atten- ders may be exposed to a “spiritual dose” that includes more spiritual emotions, such as awe and gratitude, and may view themselves as “sacred vessels.” While the emotional aspects of spiritual experiences have garnered research attention (Emmons, 2005), the emotional aspects

Varieties of Spiritual Experience: A Study of Closeness to God, Struggle,

Transformation, and Confession-Forgiveness in Communal Worship

In studies of religiousness, spirituality, and health, the most robust finding has been the association between church attendance and health-related outcomes (Chida, Steptoe, & Pow- ell, 2009; Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003; Seeman, Dubin, & Seeman, 2003). While some studies have sought to identify key mediating variables, research has shifted toward studying spirituality directly and more proximal spiritual

This research was funded by The John Templeton Foundation and Fuller Theological Seminary’s Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts. Correspon- dence regarding this article should be addressed to Alexis D. Abernethy, Ph.D., Graduate School of Psy- chology, Fuller Theological Seminary, 180 No. Oakland Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101; [email protected]

Church attendance has been associated with positive health-related outcomes. Corporate worship ser- vices are a central experience for church attenders and the emotional response to these worship services may partially explain the positive associations between church attendance and health. This investigation examined key spiritual experiences that diverse congregants (N = 64) had in communal Christian worship. Interviews were conducted with African American, Caucasian, Latino, and Korean members from Pente- costal and Presbyterian churches. Each participant identified and described closeness to God, struggle, and transformation experiences in communal worship. Transcribed interviews were analyzed for word usage with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Repeated measures Analyses of Variance showed that closeness to God descriptions included significantly more positive emotion, benefit, and gratitude words than struggle descriptions. By contrast, struggle descriptions had more negative emotion and cost language than close- ness to God and transformation. The majority of participants (73%) reported that their experience of trans- formation during worship occurred in a time of confession and receiving God’s forgiveness. For this subset of transformation descriptions, participants’ forgiveness word counts were positively correlated with word counts for costs, benefits, and positive emotions. This combined emotional expression may provide support for the undoing hypothesis of Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotion, as worship may “undo” negative emotional experiences. Gratitude words were used more frequently than positive words to describe the experience of confession and receiving God’s forgiveness. The role of confession and forgive- ness in spiritual transformation warrants more focused qualitative and quantitative examination.

Alexis D. Abernethy Fuller Theological Seminary

Kevin R. Kurian Fuller Theological Seminary

Michael Uh Brittany Rice Laura Rold Fuller Theological Seminary

Steve Brown Patton State Hospital

Charlotte vanOyen-Witvliet Hope College

10 VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

may be heightened in times of struggle and sub- dued through transformation and perceived close- ness to God. Religiosity involves dynamic and long-term patterns that can both influence and be influenced by other social, psychological, and health-related processes (McCullough, Friedman, Enders, & Martin, 2009). Perhaps beyond mere attendance, the experiences that people have dur- ing these religious services may play a role in influencing affective processes related to health. One key and understudied area is the affective response of individuals to different spiritual expe- riences in corporate worship services.

Worship and Emotions Little research on worship experiences has

examined the role of emotion (Abernethy & Witvliet, 2008). In examining textual responses to worship experiences, participants reported feeling more joy, hope, and love following worship ser- vices (Dueck, 2008). Prior work that examined the narratives of Pentecostal Americans, found that participants expressed joy, gratitude, and a blissful sense of peace in ecstatic worship experi- ences (Griffith, 1998). Pentecostal worship, in comparison to other non-charismatic traditions, typically emphasizes speaking in tongues and other manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but also includes a greater emphasis on the power, pres- ence, and personal experience of Christ (Work, 2006). Comparatively, Presbyterian worship tends to include a structured order of worship, use of the lectionary to guide Scripture readings, preach- ing, and regular incorporation of the sacraments.

Another way to understand the relative emphases and expressions of worship practices has been proposed by Chaves (2004), who defined enthusiasm and ceremony as more useful categories than the traditional stratification of ‘high” church and “low” church practices. Enthu- siasm includes playing drums, raising hands in praise, and speaking in tongues, whereas ceremo- ny includes written programs, organ music, and silent prayer. These are not mutually exclusive categories, as worship services may include both elements. Nevertheless, Chaves (2004) found that clusters of these elements are more prominent in certain socioeconomic groups. The current work explores whether these styles are more prevalent for the specific cultural groups and denominations represented in this sample.

Religious practices and services can prompt positive emotion and alleviate stress (Pizarro & Salovey, 2002). Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build

of spiritual experiences within religious worship services have not received empirical attention.

Hill and Pargament (2003) identified specific constructs in religion and spirituality that have emotional characteristics, namely closeness to God and spiritual struggle, and proposed that greater research attention be directed to experi- ences of spiritual transformation. The current work builds on Hill and Pargament’s contributions by examining how self-identified Christians expe- rienced closeness to God, spiritual struggle, and spiritual transformation during a religious service. In assessing the affective characteristics of reli- gious and spiritual experiences during worship services, the current research heeds Hill and Pargament’s advice to use approaches other than self-report scales and analyzes the words used by individuals in their descriptions of closeness to God, spiritual struggle, and spiritual transforma- tion during communal worship.

Although significant early work in the psycholo- gy of religion focused on religious conversion, less attention has been devoted to the variety of spiritual experiences worshipers have within the context of corporate worship services. Worship experiences provide a rich context for examining closeness to God, spiritual struggle, and spiritual transformation. The current investigation uses an interview format with a multiethnic sample across Pentecostal and Presbyterian traditions to under- stand how worshipers describe their experiences of closeness to God, struggle, spiritual transforma- tion, and transformation that occurs due to con- fession and receiving God’s forgiveness during worship services.

Worship Experiences The frequency of church attendance has

received significant attention in the literature on religious services and their association with health. A review of studies found that church attendance was associated with lower mortality rates (Powell et al., 2003) after controlling for demographic con- founding variables and risk factors. As in general mortality studies, one potential explanation for weakened associations after controlling for risk factors is that the benefit of church attendance may be mediated by the effect of religion and spir- ituality on promoting a healthy lifestyle (Powell et al., 2003). Another explanation receiving increased empirical support addresses the direct effect of religious practices and religious experiences on cardiovascular activity (Bernardi et al., 2001; Gupta, Prakash, Gupta, & Gupta, 1997), which

ABERNETHY ET AL 11

Theory of Positive Emotion (2001) provides a framework for conceptualizing relationships between spiritual experience and emotions. Emo- tions involve a range of response tendencies that emerge in personally meaningful circumstances (Fredrickson, 2001). For example, difficult circum- stances often automatically activate negative emo- tions (e.g., fear, anxiety, or anger) that include subjective experiences, behavioral expressions, and physiological changes. By contrast, positive emotions, such as love, joy, peace, or enthusiasm may broaden people’s thought-action repertoires and build their resources (Isen, 2000). Further, the undoing hypothesis proposes that positive emo- tions may correct or undo the effects of negative emotions (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998). Fredrickson’s theory gives perspective on how spiritual experiences may enhance positive emo- tions, which may occur during times of perceived closeness to God, and buffer against negative emotions in times of spiritual struggle. Under- standing the interplay of positive emotion and negative emotion is especially important for com- plex experiences, such as spiritual transformation, including transformation that comes from confes- sion and receiving God’s forgiveness.

Confession and Forgiveness Despite differences, worship practices across

traditions include expressions of forgiveness, grat- itude, and a range of emotions as people gather together to worship God. Forgiveness and grati- tude each have emerging research literatures that explore the psychological and health-related dimensions of these spiritually relevant constructs. For example, research has shown that people who regularly pray, read scriptures and other reli- gious material, engage in religious activities, and exhibit closeness to God tend to be more grateful, even in their daily lives (Emmons & Kneezel, 2005). The experience of feeling forgiven by God has been found to mediate fully the associations of successful aging with religious service atten- dance, prayer, and belief in a watchful God (Lawler-Row, 2010).

The topic of forgiveness is also a burgeoning research area in psychology, with more attention devoted to the affective transformation that occurs when people grant interpersonal forgive- ness (Fehr, Gelfand, & Nag, 2010), in comparison to confession and receiving forgiveness from God and from others. Davis, Worthington, Hook, and Hill (2013) noted that there have been several eras in forgiveness research: a dispositional era

that focused on interpersonal forgiveness as a trait; a contextual era that focused on state inter- personal forgiveness; and, then a more recent focus on self-forgiveness. While all of these foci are important, less attention has been paid to the experience of receiving divine forgiveness (Witvliet, Hinman, Exline, & Brandt, 2011). For- giveness has strong links to many elements of Christian worship (e.g., the sacraments of bap- tism and communion, Scripture, the Lord’s Prayer, confession, and the assurance of God’s forgiveness). Toussaint and Williams (2008) found that individuals who self-identified as Protestant or Catholic were more likely to report experiencing divine forgiveness (as well as for- giveness of others and oneself) compared to non- religious groups. Perceptions of divine forgiveness have been associated with an increased ability to experience forgiveness of self (Ingersoll-Dayton, Torges, & Krause, 2010; Mar- tin, 2009). In a study of forgiveness comparing three different views of God (e.g., as a resentful entity, as a forgiving entity who is sensitive to extenuating circumstances, and as an uncondi- tionally forgiving entity), God was more often conceptualized as an unconditionally forgiving entity (Akl & Mullet, 2010). Research with older adults (Lawler-Row, 2010) pointed to the poten- tially important role of perceiving divine forgive- ness in explaining the relationship between spiritual involvement, practices and beliefs, and positive health-related outcomes.

Exline and Baumeister (2000) observed that while confession and repentance play important roles, these experiences hinge on people’s responsibility for what they have done or left undone. In addition to guilt, confession and repentance may also evoke shame and negative feelings. In an experimental paradigm, Witvliet, Ludwig, and Bauer (2002) tested participants dur- ing a condition of reliving one of their past trans- gressions. Remembering and identifying one’s transgression is part of confession, and doing so prompted both the strongest negative emotions and the highest perceptions of divine forgiveness. The subjective experience of confession may acti- vate negative emotions, while positive emotions are also associated with forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. In a study of older adults, Krause and Ellison (2003) found that divine forgiveness was associated with greater psychological well-being.

Recent experimental research examined repentance in comparison to self-justification,

12 VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

self-condemning rumination, and distraction (Witvliet et al., 2011). Participants’ written responses were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a standardized, quantitative method for categorizing linguistic responses (Pennebaker & Francis, 1996). This method showed that repentance writing prompt- ed participants to use words referring to positive emotion, negative emotion, and costs. The cur- rent study will examine participants’ descrip- tions of a time of confession and receiving God’s forgiveness in a worship context. Because confession and forgiveness arise out of the con- dition of feeling guilty for having committed a transgression and being renewed through for- giveness, we will draw on research by Witvliet, Knoll, Hinman, & DeYoung (2010) as well as Witvliet et al. (2011) which assessed partici- pants’ language use across a range of emotion- relevant categories, including negative emotion and cost language, positive emotion and benefit language, forgiveness and gratitude.

Present Study Building on past work that has found associa-

tions between religious experience and emotions, this study focused on four key spiritual experi- ences within communal worship: closeness to God, spiritual struggle, spiritual transformation, with a focus on transformation that was specifical- ly related to a time of confession and receiving God’s forgiveness. The current study follows Hill and Pargament’s (2003) recommendation to use measures other than self-report scales by measur- ing language use in descriptions of comfort, strug- gle, transformation, and confession-forgiveness. Extending research on repentance (Witvliet et al., 2011), forgiveness, and gratitude (McCullough, Root, & Cohen, 2006; Witvliet et al., 2010), the present study assessed participants’ use of words that referred to positive emotions, benefits, grati- tude, and forgiveness language, as well as nega- tive emotions and cost language. The present study further examined descriptions for qualitative indications of the undoing hypothesis (Fredrick- son & Levenson, 1998), and thus assessed whether positive emotions may have undone neg- ative emotions in worship. As a follow-up to the transformation question, all participants were asked if their transformation experience was relat- ed to a time of confessing their transgressions and receiving God’s forgiveness.

Participants’ responses were transcribed and analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word

Count (LIWC) to measure positive emotion, nega- tive emotion, costs, benefits, gratitude, and for- giveness word counts. It was predicted that interview responses would range from more neg- ative and cost oriented for struggle descriptions, to mixed positive and negative for transformation descriptions, to more positive and benefit orient- ed for closeness to God descriptions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that more negative emotion and cost words and fewer positive emotion words would be associated with struggle in com- parison to transformation. It was hypothesized that struggle descriptions would include more negative emotion and cost language compared to closeness to God descriptions, and that closeness to God responses would include more positive emotion, more benefits, and gratitude compared to the struggle descriptions. It was hypothesized that more benefit and positive emotion words would be associated with closeness to God com- pared to the transformation descriptions. We anticipated that some participants’ spiritual trans- formation would be related to a time of confes- sion and being assured of God’s forgiveness, and that interview responses would refer to forgive- ness more than any other question, and also incorporate both negative and positive emotions. Consistent with the undoing hypothesis, we anticipated that initially negative emotions might be undone or replaced by positive emotions. Additionally, it was hypothesized that in partici- pants’ descriptions of their spiritual transforma- tion experiences, their use of gratitude words would be positively correlated with benefits and positive emotion, whereas forgiveness word counts would be positively correlated with costs, benefits, negative emotion, and positive emotion because forgiveness occurs in the context of responsibility for wrongdoing.

Method

Participants A sample of 64 parishioners of African Ameri-

can, Caucasian, Korean, and Latino descent pro- vided responses to all interview questions in this study. Some participants began the study, but were excluded. One reported high weekly con- sumption of alcohol; one of the participant’s eth- nicity did not match one of the four ethnic groups; and four were excluded due to mechani- cal problems with the audio recording equipment. Data from an additional six participants were not

ABERNETHY ET AL 13

analyzed because of missing data associated with one of the three major interview questions.

Participants were recruited from 20 Southern California Pentecostal and Presbyterian churches that were predominantly African American, Cau- casian, Korean, or Latino. Participants were recruited with fliers and announcements at their churches to participate in a larger psychophysio- logical study of worship. They were invited to describe their worship experiences in a two-hour interview and were told that they would be given a $100 honorarium for their contributions. All par- ticipants reported being in good health. After informed consent, participants also had physio- logical measures taken. As the focus of this paper is on the content of participants’ interview responses, physiological data is not reported here.

The majority of the sample was middle-aged (M = 45.2, SD = 5.94), female (69%), and married (63%). Ethnically, the sample was well distributed among Korean (n = 18), Caucasian (n = 17), African American (n = 16), and Latino (n = 13) participants. The sample included participants from both Pentecostal (n = 37) and Presbyterian (n = 27) denominational traditions. The partici- pants were highly educated, with the majority completing some college coursework or higher (n = 52). Most participants were employed (77%), with about half of the participants earning less than $40,000 annually (n = 31) and the remaining earning more than $40,001 annually (n = 32). One participant did not report annual income.

Design This study used a repeated measures design in

which each participant responded to three prima- ry interview questions and one secondary ques- tion. These included remembering and describing a past experience of closeness to God, struggle, and transformation in a worship service. In an effort to prevent order effects for the psychophys- iological measures that were used in the larger study, counterbalancing was used. The order of the closeness to God and struggle questions were counterbalanced to prevent order effects. The set of transformation questions was always last because these questions involved several follow- up questions including a question of whether a time of confession and the assurance of God’s for- giveness played a role in their transformation.

Measures So that participants could answer questions in

their primary language, all measures were trans- lated into Korean and Spanish and then back-

translated into English to assure consistency. All Korean and Latino participants completed mea- sures and were interviewed in Korean and Span- ish, respectively. All interviews were translated into English by professional translators.

Demographics. Age, race, marital status, income, employment status, and education were assessed using a questionnaire.

Interview Questions. Interview questions to address the experiences of closeness to God, struggle, transformation, and the follow-up ques- tion about confession and receiving God’s for- giveness were developed by the research team and then presented to approximately 10 church leaders from different denominations and ethnic groups. Revisions were made incorporating feed- back, and the protocols were translated into Kore- an and Spanish and then back-translated.

Closeness to God. This interview question was worded in English as follows: “Apart from a con- version experience, reflect on a worship experi- ence where you felt close to God while worshipping at a church service. Remember this moment when you felt close to God as if it was actually happening right now. Let me know when you are ready to begin reflecting on this experi- ence…We will be silent for one minute as you actively imagine the thoughts, feelings, and physi- cal responses you had during this experience.”

Struggle. "From a conversion experience, I would like you to reflect on a worship experience where you felt that you were wrestling or strug- gling worshipping at a church service. Remember this moment when you were wrestling or strug- gling as if it was actually happening right now. Let me know when you are ready to begin reflecting on this experience...We will be silent for one minute as you actively imagine the thoughts, feelings, and physical responses you had during this experience.”

Transformation. “Apart from a conversion experience, reflect on a worship experience in a church service that changed you and made a dif- ference in your life. Please choose an experience that deeply affected you, as we will be asking a number of questions about it. Feel free to take a moment or two. Remember this moment when you experienced this transformation as if it was actually happening right now. Let me know when you are ready to begin reflecting on this experi- ence. We will be silent for one minute as you actively imagine the thoughts, feelings, and physi- cal responses you had during this experience.”

Confession and God’s Forgiveness. As a fol- low-up question to the transformation question participants responded to this question: “Did a time of confession and being assured of God’s forgiveness play a role in your experience?” If they responded affirmatively to this question, then they were asked to elaborate.

Classification of Chaves’ Worship Cate- gories. Chaves (2004) classified worship styles into categories of enthusiasm (e.g., playing drums, raising hands in praise, and speaking in tongues) or ceremony (e.g., written programs, organ music, and silent prayer). Using Chaves’ classification guidelines, the research team characterized 21 worship styles as enthusiasm and 17 as ceremony. Participants indicated to what extent, “any of the following worship elements present in your church services?” The response categories were (0) Never, (1) Occasionally, or (2) Frequently. Mean scores were calculated.

Procedure After giving informed consent and completing

initial questionnaires, participants completed an interview including the questions described above. An interviewer of the same ethnicity as each participant conducted the interview. Kore- an and Spanish-speaking interviewers conducted the interviews in Korean and Spanish, respec- tively. Interviewers received at least 20 hours of training in preparation for study administration. The interviewer and participant followed a detailed protocol that described each step of the procedure to ensure standardization and accura- cy. After providing informed consent and com- pleting the demographic questionnaires, the interview was conducted and tape-recorded. The interviews lasted from 1 hour to 2.5 hours and averaged 1.5 hours. Before each interview ques- tion, participants relaxed and were asked to clear their minds during a minute-long period in which participants were asked to relax and think the word “peace” as they exhaled. Other repeat- ed measures research used a secular meditation relaxation task, which involved thinking the word “one” during exhalations to clear one’s mind between emotion conditions (e.g., Witvliet et al., 2010). The current study substituted the word “peace” as a more apt way for religious participants to clear their minds and induce relaxation in between descriptions of spiritual experiences. For each interview question, partici- pants were asked to recall a specific worship experience during a church service. Answers

included an average of 276 words: closeness (M = 255.38, SE = 28.47, SD = 227.79), struggle (M = 295.69, SE = 34.56, SD = 276.5), and transforma- tion (M =276.48, SE = 26.73, SD = 213.81).

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Pennebaker and Francis (1996) developed Lin-

guistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to study the relationship between how individuals process difficult emotional experiences and physical health. LIWC is a computer program with an internal dictionary of over 2,000 words that are organized in over 70 categories. It provides a standardized, quantitative method for categorizing textual responses. This computer program counts the number of words and places them in cate- gories that provide a descriptive summary of the narrative in terms of linguistic style and content. Word counts are percentages used to express the measure of a category relative to the total word count for a particular textual segment. dimensions that are present in the Pennebaker dictionary that were used include positive and negative emotion. In addition to these categories, we used McCul- lough and colleagues’ (2006) categories of cost and benefits. The cost-related category included key words and word stems such as betray*, hurt, offens*, suffer*, violat*, and unfair. The words stems with *’s allow the dictionary to count all words that begin with the letters preceding the asterisk. For example, betray* would locate betray, betrays, betrayed, betrayer, betrayal, betrayals, and betraying. The benefit-related cate- gory included key words and word stems such as benefit*, bless*, good, regained, and stronger. We also used Witvliet and colleagues’ (2010) cate- gories of forgiveness and gratitude. Forgiveness included word stems and words such as forgave, forgiv*, compassion*, merciful, and mercy. Grati- tude included words and word stems such as grateful*, gratitude, thank*, and blessed.

Results

Descriptive analyses were conducted on the study variables. To determine whether demo- graphic variables should be included as covari- ates, MANOVAs were run on all demographic variables with the outcomes. No significant differ- ences were found, and therefore no demographic variables were used as covariates.

Selected analyses were conducted based on hypotheses about the three primary worship ques- tions: closeness to God, struggle, and transforma- tion. After providing the original transformation

14 VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

description, participants then responded to a ques- tion about whether their transformation was due to a time of confessing and being assured of God’s forgiveness. Of the 64 participants, 47 participants gave an affirmative response indicating that a time of confession and being assured of God’s forgive- ness played a role in their transformational experi- ence; however, responses for two of these participants were missing leaving 45 participants’ responses to be analyzed for transformation through confession-forgiveness.

Struggle and Transformation Hypotheses that struggle would be associated

with more negative emotion and cost words and fewer positive emotion words than transformation were tested first. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that the difference in negative emotion word use for struggle descriptions (M = 2.29, SD = 1.49) and transformation descriptions (M = 1.31, SD = 1.38) was statistically significant, F(1, 63) = 16.09, p < .001, partial η2 = .20. Likewise, cost word counts were higher for struggle (M = 1.13, SD = 1.22) than transformation (M = 0.71, SD = 0.74), F(1, 63) = 6.86, p = .01, partial η2 = .10. Positive emotion words were present in statistical- ly equivalent proportions in the struggle (M = 3.49, SD = 1.73) and transformation (M = 3.61, SD = 2.50) descriptions, F(1, 63) = .10, p = .75, par- tial η2 < .001.

Closeness to God and Struggle To test the hypothesis that experiences of strug-

gle would be associated with more negative emo- tion and more cost words than experiences of closeness to God, repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted. Struggle (M = 2.29, SD = 1.29) was associated with significantly more negative emotion words than closeness to God (M = 1.13, SD = 1.19), F (1, 63) = 23.14, p < .001, partial η2 = .27. Struggle descriptions used more cost words (M = 1.13, SD = 1.22) than closeness to God descriptions (M = 0.71, SD = 0.80), F(1, 63) = 5.42, p = .02, partial η2 = .08.

The following excerpt is an example of struggle and negative emotions taken from the response of an African American woman. She shared that,

“Lord, I am a mess with my emotions … and it’s like ‘do you really want to go church today?’ But I’m here and so ‘Lord, help me get into the wor- ship … I want to worship you God. …Help me Lord, please Lord, touch my mind, Lord. I’m not thinking right

now. I’m not hearing the service right now. I want to be somewhere else. Lord, help my emotions’… One thing I love about the worship... I started calling, ‘Lord, I need your help. …You said knock and I’ll be there. I need you right now. Lord, my emo- tions are taking over me and I refuse to be a slave to my emotions on this day’… There’s a song they sing in the choir. After I hear that song tears come out of my eyes…and I say, ‘Lord, thank you’ … Because the Lord touched me and it’s been through the service.”

We hypothesized that compared to struggle, closeness to God descriptions would be associat- ed with more positive emotion, more benefits, and more gratitude words. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that closeness to God (M = 4.40, SD = 2.45) had higher positive emotion word counts than struggle descriptions (M = 3.49, SD = 1.73), F (1, 63) = 7.62, p = .008, partial η2 = .11. Similarly, benefit word counts were higher for closeness to God (M = 1.16, SD = 1.36) as com- pared to struggle (M = 1.11, SD = 0.99), F(1, 63) = 6.24, p = .02, partial η2 = .09. Finally, gratitude word counts were higher for closeness to God (M = 0.21, SD = 0.51) than for struggle (M = 0.06, SD = 0.17), F(1, 63) = 5.70 , p = .02 , partial η2 = .08.

Closeness to God and Spiritual Transformation

The hypothesis that more benefit and positive emotion words would occur in descriptions of closeness to God compared to transformation was tested. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that positive emotion word counts did not differ sig- nificantly between questions, F (1, 63) = 3.86, p = .054, partial η2 = .06. Likewise, benefit word counts did not differ between closeness and trans- formation questions, F (1, 63) = 1.69 , p = .20.

Transformational Worship Experiences Related to a Time of Confession and God’s Forgiveness

The next set of analyses focused exclusively on responses from 45 participants who affirmed that their transformation experience was related to confession and being assured of God’s forgive- ness. A repeated measures ANOVA across descrip- tions of closeness to God, struggle, transformation, and confession-forgiveness revealed that the forgiveness word counts differed

ABERNETHY ET AL 15

significantly, F (3, 132) = 11.35, p < .001, partial η2 = .21. Specifically, a one sample t-test revealed that confession-forgiveness question descriptions involved significantly more forgiveness words (M = 2.0, SD = 3.4) than the average number of for- giveness words for closeness to God, struggle, and transformation descriptions combined (M = .71, SD = 1.2), t (44) = 3.94, p < .001.

To test the hypothesis that confession-forgive- ness descriptions would be associated with more benefits, more negative emotion, and more posi- tive emotion word counts than the transformation question, repeated measures ANOVAs were con- ducted. The confession-forgiveness description was associated with more positive emotion word counts than transformation, F (1, 44) = 4.49, p = .04 , partial η2 = .09. There was no significant dif- ference for benefit word counts, F (1, 44) = 3.05, p = .16, or negative emotion word counts, F (1, 44) = .86, p = .36. As an example, a Korean female participant recalled, “During the service I believed that I received forgiveness, salvation, and assurance. Thereafter, I don’t look back into my past nor do I blame others.”

Given the focus on divine forgiveness, repeated measures ANOVA tested the hypothesis that partici- pants’ (n = 45) descriptions of confession and receiving God’s forgiveness would emphasize grati- tude, and thus use even more gratitude words than positive emotion words. Participants used signifi- cantly more gratitude words than positive emotion words, F(1, 44) = 7.22, p = .010 partial η2 = .14.

Subsequently, we investigated the original transformation descriptions for the subsample of participants (n = 45) who affirmed that this transformation was due to confession and for- giveness. Pearson correlations were used to test the relationship between participants’ forgive- ness word counts and word counts for cost, ben- efits, gratitude, positive emotions, and negative emotions. Forgiveness word counts were posi- tively associated with cost, r = .47, p = .001, ben- efits, r = .30, p = .024, and positive emotions, r = .32, p = .016, but a nonsignificant trend was found with negative emotion, r = .24, p = .058, or gratitude, r = -.06, p = .35.

Follow-up qualitative assessment of confes- sion-forgiveness descriptions revealed dynamic patterns in which positive emotions in the con- fession-forgiveness experiences were undoing negative emotions. An example of a Latina’s description of transformation through confession and forgiveness illustrates this emotional undo- ing pattern.

“I was thinking when I was at church and the pastors were preach- ing about forgiveness. On the first experience that I had, I was feeling very abandoned and I was in this service and that person that had hurt me so, so much was there and I decided to forgive her. I wanted to forgive her, to have peace and for her also to be in peace, and I let that administering of forgiveness seep in and I got to her and I hugged her and I told her that I for- give her. I asked her for forgiveness and we both cried and I felt so close to her and I felt that God was approving of what I was doing.”

A Latino male participant’s response to the confession-forgiveness question noted that,

“I felt guilt… I was under pressure for all the things I did in the past. That is the best experience I could go through, knowing that God does not accuse me. At that moment, the main thing is that he freed me, he filled me with peace and that is what God gave me.”

As another illustration of transformation through forgiveness-confession, a Korean woman noted,

“my spirituality was not recovering and it felt as if I fell into a spiritual slump. And so, uh… I lived a life that was distant from God… But one day… Ah! in the middle of the ser- vice, it was this very service…I thought that I shouldn’t live this way anymore…I prayed to God, and because I was a daughter of God, I began asking myself ‘Shouldn’t I live more in accordance to this status of being His daughter?’ Yes! From now on I will cling to God and pray …that my spirit would be renewed, God gave me a deep joy and helped me... Yes, I felt it in the middle of the sermon. I began to deliberately pray every day. As I was praying, I felt God restoring me. While I was praying, a huge transformation in my life occurred. As that happened, God lifted me up again as I was

16 VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

praying. I don’t know how to express/articulate the joy and glad- ness I felt. I was very happy. Yes. It was during a time of great hardship that God allowed me to pray and because He loved me, He helped me overcome it.”

Exploratory Analyses Chaves (2004) found that enthusiasm and cere-

mony worship styles were more prominent in certain socioeconomic groups. We examined whether these styles were more prevalent for some ethnic groups and denominations. In the current sample, 63% of the African American, 62% of the Latino, and 59% of the Caucasian par- ticipants were Pentecostal. Korean Americans were equally represented in both denominations. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to examine the effects of ethnici- ty, education, denomination, and income on enthusiasm and ceremony. A statistically signifi- cant difference in ceremony occurred based on participant’s ethnicity, F (6, 22) = 2.64, p = 0.04; Pillai's Trace = .837, partial η2 = .50. Post hoc analyses were performed using the Scheffe posttest to identify where significant differences existed. The analyses revealed that African Amer- icans (n = 16, M = 1.424, SE = 0.55) used more ceremonial worship styles than Koreans (n = 18, M = 1.18, SE = .051), and Caucasians (n = 17, M = 1.176, SE = .057), with no other difference occurring between ethnic groups.

Denominations differed significantly in wor- ship styles, F (8, 22) = 2.74, p = 0.029; Pillai's trace = .999, partial η2 = .50. Denomination was significantly associated with both enthusiasm, F (1, 63) = 18.99; p < .0005; partial η2 = .65 and ceremony, F (1, 63) = 5.42; p = .023; partial η2 = .56. Pentecostals (n = 37, M = 1.66, SD = 0.30) were significantly more enthusiastic than Presby- terians (n = 27, M = 1.28, SD = 0.42) and signifi- cantly less ceremonious than Presbyterians (n = 27, M = 1.35, SD = 0.33).

A one-way ANOVA showed a significant differ- ence in enthusiasm between participants who did not affirm a role of confession-forgiveness in transformation (n = 19, M = 1.33, SD = .46) com- pared to participants who affirmed this role (n = 45, M = 1.57, SD = 0.36), F (1, 63) = 5.41, p = .03. Participants who affirmed the role of confession and divine forgiveness in their transformation reported more enthusiasm.

Discussion

Worship experiences are a central dimension of parishioners’ spiritual experiences. Past research has measured primarily worship service atten- dance overall, whereas this study focused on the variety of spiritual experiences that people may have during these services and examined under- studied experiences of closeness to God, struggle, and transformation (Hill & Pargament, 2003). These results shed new light on the relationships between spiritual experiences in worship and the emotions associated with them.

The major findings provide support for an association of spiritual experiences that are com- mon in worship with positive and negative emo- tional descriptions. Our findings showed a range from more predominantly positive descriptions of closeness to God, to more negative emotional descriptions of spiritual struggle. Further distinc- tions in language use were also evident across the questions. Descriptions of closeness to God (versus struggle) during worship were associated with more positive emotion, benefits, and grati- tude words. Closeness to God and spiritual trans- formation descriptions included similar amounts of positive emotion and benefits language. Trans- formation descriptions did not include as many negative emotion words or as many cost words as spiritual struggle descriptions. Struggle descrip- tions included significantly more negative emo- tion words and cost words in comparison to closeness to God descriptions.

The patterns found for closeness to God and transformation during worship suggest the importance of two potential emotion pathways for spiritual experiences during worship. Consis- tent with the Broaden and Build Theory of Posi- tive Emotion (Frederickson, 2001), these religious experiences may directly expand and promote people’s understanding and responses through the presence of positive emotion, as clearly evident in the closeness to God descrip- tions. The other pathway suggested by Fredrick- son and Levenson’s (1998) undoing hypothesis, highlights that positive emotions may also undo the effects of negative emotions. This pattern is more strongly evident in participants’ descrip- tions of spiritual transformation during a worship service, in which a positive experience over- comes a negative pattern. An illustrative narra- tive previously provided highlighted how a Latina experienced transformation in which the unforgiveness she had harbored was then undone when she made the decision to forgive

ABERNETHY ET AL 17

following a sermon on forgiveness. This process of forgiveness transformed bitterness into tears of joy and reconciliation. Qualitative analyses highlight that experiences of deep closeness to God may illustrate the undoing hypothesis as well. This was evident in the Korean woman’s description of a time that she felt close to God in worship, an experience in which her joy and happiness seemed to undo her initial sense of being distant from God.

As Hardy (1979) noted, worship includes posi- tive spiritual experiences—such as closeness to God—that may boost affect and evoke an accel- erated recovery from negative or stressful experi- ences antecedent to worship. Spiritual experiences in worship can also include a jour- ney through difficult, questioning, “dark night of the soul” periods. This complexity is most evi- dent in the struggle descriptions. Struggle was associated with more negative emotion and cost language compared to both closeness to God and transformation. The quotation by an African American female participant described her expe- rience of struggle that included a description of emotional strain even though she concluded this experience in a positive way. This transition from a more negative to positive perspective provides additional support for the undoing hypothesis. Unexpectedly, closeness to God and transforma- tion in worship were described similarly, in that emotional word counts were statistically equiva- lent across positive emotion and benefit word counts. Overall, transformation experiences were described using fewer negative emotion words than struggle experiences. While it was expected that transformation would be a mixed emotional experience, these findings suggest that it was found to be less of a negative experience rather than a more fully positive emotional experience.

The majority of participants reported that their transformation in worship was related to their confession and being assured of God’s forgive- ness (73% of participants). Analyses of transforma- tion descriptions in this subsample showed that use of forgiveness language was correlated with the use of cost, benefit, and positive emotion lan- guage. This offers some support for a multifaceted emotional experience in spiritual transformation. One potential interpretation of this finding is that spontaneous mention of forgiveness in response to the transformation question might indicate that forgiveness played a more central role in their transformational experience. The Latina’s descrip- tion of her response to a sermon on forgiveness

supports this. These participants may have viewed the process of forgiveness, an opportunity to overcome costs and experience benefits, as central to their transformation. In this more open- ended interview context, the relationship between the costs of transgressions confessed, and the benefits and positive emotions of receiving divine forgiveness were evident. Krause and Ellison (2003) suggest that how people experience divine forgiveness may be affected by the extent to which they perceive that their transgressions have been fully forgiven.

This opens a new window into understanding acts of worship that play a pivotal role in spiritual transformation. Worship services provide signifi- cant opportunities for corporate and individual confession and embracing God’s forgiveness. In a range of Christian traditions including those stud- ied here, repentance involves both the turning away from sin and the turning toward new life in Christ. This complexity embraces the reality of culpability and of renewal. Thus, the human experience of confessing and receiving divine forgiveness may include feelings of guilt or shame (Exline & Baumeister, 2000) in addition to relief from the burden of guilt and the positive experience of being cleansed and renewed. This is consistent with the mixture of emotional responses noted by this study’s participants. Descriptions of confession-forgiveness were asso- ciated with more gratitude than positive emotion. The process of confession and forgiveness may provide an overall increased sense of gratitude toward God that arises from a multifaceted emo- tional experience. While positive emotion was expressed, the more profound experience in response to divine forgiveness was gratitude that arose from a sense of being more fully reconciled to God with a sense of restoration.

Recent research on repentance and its alterna- tives, including self-condemnation, self-justifica- tions, and distraction, highlighted the importance of honestly taking responsibility for one’s wrong- doing and taking steps to make amends and pre- vent future repetition of the wrong (Witvliet et al., 2011). It might be reasonable to expect even more polarized emotions in descriptions of con- fession and divine forgiveness as opposed to receiving forgiveness from persons because God perceives everything fully and accurately. Draw- ing on the Broaden and Build Theory and con- sistent with the undoing hypothesis, divine forgiveness might evoke even more negative emotions that might be undone through the

18 VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

power of forgiveness. Corporate worship ser- vices that incorporate practices of confession and assurance of God’s pardon may give parish- ioners added opportunities to engage in this means of spiritual transformation. While confes- sion and forgiveness may occur outside of orga- nized services, worship services may provide an enriched communal context for this vital element of the Christian life.

In relation to Chaves’ (2004) work, worship styles were associated with ethnicity and denomi- nation. Unexpectedly, African Americans reported a more ceremonial style despite the overrepresen- tation of Pentecostals among African Americans (63%). Participants also reported high enthusiasm in descriptions of worship experiences that included forgiveness. The process of confession and seeking divine forgiveness may provide relief from struggle. The associated responses may include more expressions of gratitude and more enthusiastic worship.

Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Directions

This study bridges research areas to inform current insights about the emotional characteris- tics of a variety of spiritual experiences that occur during religious services. Attentive to Hill and Pargament’s (2003) call to use measures other than self-report scales, and building on research studies of forgiveness and repentance, this is the first study to use LIWC to study affec- tive experiences within a worship context. This study provides an important examination of reli- gious worship experiences and emotions using a multiethnic sample across denominations. Still, generalizability is limited because the sample focused on self-identified Christian individuals from two traditions: Pentecostal and Presbyteri- an. Given the small sample size, power was low in this study. With a larger sample size, it is pos- sible that correlational analyses would have demonstrated a clearer trend.

A major contribution of this study is that it pro- vides insight into how the undoing hypothesis of the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emo- tions may occur within individuals in the context of corporate worship. Efforts to understand the associations between church attendance and pos- itive health outcomes may be partially explained by the ability of corporate worship to undo the effect of negative emotions. This study under- scores that this process is not simply a reduction of negative emotion. In fact, confession may

intensify negative emotion, but confession and forgiveness also reorients congregants toward a deepened appreciation of and gratitude toward God. These findings support the importance of measuring general as well as spiritually oriented emotions and points to important spiritual experi- ences in worship that are linked to the range of human emotional experience. This study exam- ines the relationship between spiritual experi- ences in worship and emotions, and contributes to the literature on confession and divine forgive- ness. This study is a preliminary step, and future research is needed to examine psychological and physical aspects of spiritual experiences in wor- ship contexts.

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Authors

Alexis D. Abernethy, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Semi- nary. Dr. Abernethy’s expertise is in spirituality and health research. She has conducted studies on worship practice and experiences, cancer screening, and eating disturbances.

Charlotte vanOyen-Witvliet, PhD, Professor of Psychol- ogy, Hope College. Dr. Witvliet is a psychophysiologist and expert on forgiveness research. She has published numerous psychophysiological studies on forgiveness.

Kevin R. Kurian, MA, Graduate Student, Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary. Kevin

Kurian is a Research Fellow in Dr. Abernethy’s Spirituali-

ty and Health Lab and is interested in qualitative analy-

sis, psychophysiology, and worship.

Steve Brown, PhD, Staff Psychologist, Patton State Hos-

pital. Dr. Steve Brown is a researcher and clinician. He

has served as a research team member and statistical

consultant for this study. His expertise includes statistical

analysis and psychology of religion.

Michael Uh, PhD, Graduate Student, Graduate

School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr.

Uh was a member of the research team for this project

and is currently a Staff Psychologist at the Northern

Virginia Mental Health Institute. His interests include

cultural dimensions of religiousness.

Brittany Rice, MA, Graduate Student, Graduate School

of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary. Brittany Rice

is a research team member for the Spirituality and

Health Lab. Her interests include spirituality and health-

related outcomes.

Laura Rold, MA, Graduate Student, Graduate School of

Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary. Laura Rold is a

research team member for the Spirituality and Health Lab

and has just recently completed her dissertation on prayer.

ABERNETHY ET AL 21

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