Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings on Scrupulosity Among Hong Kong Catholics and Protestants
-
Hin Chung Chan
Abstract
Scrupulosity refers to when a perception of sin where none exists. This notion has existed in the church tradition for a long time and was specifically mentioned by Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), founder of the Society of Jesus, in his famous work The Spiritual Exercises. In modern times, psychologists regard scrupulosity as a religious manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This article presents, compares, and analyses qualitative and quantitative research findings concerning scrupulosity among Protestants and Catholics in Hong Kong. The results show that the main causes of scrupulosity are perfectionism and a negative image of God, and that one of the key methods of transformation is to engage with spiritual tradition.
Zusammenfassung
Als Skrupulosität wird ein Zustand bezeichnet, bei dem Menschen Sünde wahrnehmen, jedoch keine Sünde existiert. Bereits bei Ignatius von Loyola (1491–1556), dem Gründer des Jesuitenordens, wird dieser Zustand in seinem berühmten Werk Die Geistlichen Übungen erwähnt. In der heutigen Zeit betrachten Psychologen Skrupulosität als eine religiöse Erscheinungsform der Zwangsstörung. In diesem Artikel werden qualitative und quantitative Forschungsergebnisse zur Skrupulosität unter Protestanten und Katholiken in Hongkong vorgestellt, verglichen und analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Hauptursachen der Skrupulosität Perfektionismus und ein negatives Gottesbild sind und dass einer der wichtigsten Ansatzpunkte für Veränderung die Beschäftigung mit spiritueller Tradition ist.
© 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 €.
