Assessing whether practical wisdom and awe of God are associated with life satisfaction.

Abstract

Although emotion figures prominently in religious life, there has been little research on one of the strongest religious emotions—awe of God. The purpose of this study was to embed this key religious emotion in a wider latent-variable model that contains the following core hypotheses: (a) more frequent church attendance is associated with greater practical wisdom; (b) people with more practical wisdom are more likely to experience awe of God; (c) individuals who experience awe of God are more likely to say they feel a deep sense of connectedness with others; and (d) those who feel more closely connected with others will be more satisfied with their lives. New measures were developed to assess awe of God and practical wisdom. Findings from a recent nationwide survey (N 1,535) of middle-aged and older adults provided support for each of these relationships. Randall Collins (2005), a widely cited social theorist, argues that emotional energy is the force that motivates all of social life. This observation is consistent with a long history of research on the role that emotions play in religion. Ever since the pioneering work of Durkheim (1915/1965), a number of researchers have devoted considerable attention to describing the ways in which emotions shape the adoption of religious beliefs and behaviors (Davies, 2011; Riis & Woodhead, 2010). In fact, Roberts (2007) argues that religious emotions are the essential way in which church teachings are assimilated into the lives of the faithful. He identifies a range of emotions that are associated with religious involvement, including joy, contrition, gratitude, and compassion. However, it is surprising to find that he overlooks of one of the more intense emotional religious experiences—awe of God. Shiota, Keltner, and Mossman (2007) define awe as “ ...a n emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that overwhelm current mental structures, yet facilitate attempts at accommodation” (p. 944). Building on this general definition, we define awe of God as feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of God’s creations, power, wisdom, and timelessness coupled with the effort to assimilate these experiences into new mental models. Although awe of God is a powerful religious emotion, the literature on this concept is underdeveloped. Theoretical and theological discussions of awe of God abound in the literature (e.g., Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Sundararajan, 2002; Wettstein, 1997). In fact, awe of God forms the cornerstone of Otto’s (1917/1958)