Faith in Flux: Using Transformative Learning Theory to Explore Religious Doubt in Adult Christians
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Michael D. MacKenzie
Abstract
This study places practical theology in conversation with the field of adult education to explore the phenomenon of religious doubt. The experiences of four Canadian adult Christians who have faced religious doubt are analyzed using transformative learning theory as a theoretical frame. Three main findings emerge, including the role of community (especially church-based) support in either facilitating or blocking positive transformation prompted by religious doubt. Different cognitive and affective coping strategies are also explored, as is the extent to which religious doubt may be considered a positive factor in faith development. The study concludes with four implications and areas of future study for the field of practical theology.
Zusammenfassung
Diese Studie bringt die praktische Theologie mit der Erwachsenenbildung ins Gespräch, um das Phänomen des religiösen Zweifels zu untersuchen. Die Erfahrungen von vier erwachsenen kanadischen Christ:innen, die mit religiösen Zweifeln konfrontiert waren, werden mit Hilfe der Theorie des transformativen Lernens als theoretischem Rahmen analysiert. Es werden drei Hauptergebnisse herausgearbeitet, darunter die Rolle der gemeinschaftlichen (insbesondere kirchlichen) Unterstützung bei der Erleichterung oder Verhinderung positiver Veränderungen, die durch religiöse Zweifel ausgelöst werden. Es werden auch verschiedene kognitive und affektive Bewältigungsstrategien untersucht, ebenso wie die Frage, inwieweit religiöse Zweifel als positiver Faktor für die Glaubensentwicklung angesehen werden können. Die Studie schließt mit vier Implikationen und zeigt Perspektiven auf für zukünftige Untersuchungen im Bereich der praktischen Theologie.
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- International Report
- Pakikibaka at Pagsamba: Country Report on the State of Practical Theology in the Philippines
- Research Report
- Comprehensive Schools as the Frontier of Religious Education: Current Developments and Emerging Principles in Germany
- Research Articles
- Hope, Meaning, and the Goodness of Life on the Whole: A Trauma-Informed Eschatological Practical Theology
- Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A Trauma-informed Approach for Theological Qualitative Research
- Character of Protestant pastors: A focus group study
- “What else could we have done?”
- Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings on Scrupulosity Among Hong Kong Catholics and Protestants
- Faith in Flux: Using Transformative Learning Theory to Explore Religious Doubt in Adult Christians
- Pain as a Profound Mystery: Proposing Hopeful Anthropocene Pastoral Care and Counseling through Eschatological Self
- Book Reviews
- Manual Stetter, Die Konstitution der Toten. Eine Religionsethnografie der Bestattungspraxis, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 323 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07569-0, 98 €.
- Phillis Isabella Sheppard, Tilling Sacred Grounds: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience, Lanham (Lexington Books) 2024, 153 pp., ISBN 978-1-7936-3864-9, $39.99 USD.
- Philipp Öhlmann, Ignatius Swart, Birgit Weyel, Simangaliso Kumalo, Marie-Luise Frost (Eds.), Lived Religion and Lived Development in Contemporary Society. Essays in Honour of Wilhelm Gräb. Research in Contemporary Religion (RCR), Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2024, 511 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-50071-2, 99 €.
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- International Report
- Pakikibaka at Pagsamba: Country Report on the State of Practical Theology in the Philippines
- Research Report
- Comprehensive Schools as the Frontier of Religious Education: Current Developments and Emerging Principles in Germany
- Research Articles
- Hope, Meaning, and the Goodness of Life on the Whole: A Trauma-Informed Eschatological Practical Theology
- Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A Trauma-informed Approach for Theological Qualitative Research
- Character of Protestant pastors: A focus group study
- “What else could we have done?”
- Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings on Scrupulosity Among Hong Kong Catholics and Protestants
- Faith in Flux: Using Transformative Learning Theory to Explore Religious Doubt in Adult Christians
- Pain as a Profound Mystery: Proposing Hopeful Anthropocene Pastoral Care and Counseling through Eschatological Self
- Book Reviews
- Manual Stetter, Die Konstitution der Toten. Eine Religionsethnografie der Bestattungspraxis, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 323 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07569-0, 98 €.
- Phillis Isabella Sheppard, Tilling Sacred Grounds: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience, Lanham (Lexington Books) 2024, 153 pp., ISBN 978-1-7936-3864-9, $39.99 USD.
- Philipp Öhlmann, Ignatius Swart, Birgit Weyel, Simangaliso Kumalo, Marie-Luise Frost (Eds.), Lived Religion and Lived Development in Contemporary Society. Essays in Honour of Wilhelm Gräb. Research in Contemporary Religion (RCR), Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2024, 511 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-50071-2, 99 €.
