Abstract
AbstractThe aim of the present study is to clarify the lay experience of grace through person-level narratives. This empirical qualitative study follows a bottom-up approach, not restricted by specific theoretical assumptions, and includes a large and heterogeneous group of Belgian participants. The sample (recruited online) was composed of 456 participants (64% women, mean age = 50.04, age range from 18 to 93 years). Data consisted of 456 written narratives describing the experience of grace. They were analysed using a thematic analysis and thematic network approach with the help of a qualitative data management package Nvivo 12 pro. The resulting thematic network visualizes the experience of grace in the flow of time with (a) antecedents, grace can happen anywhere and anytime, but difficulties often precede grace; (b) the core experience is one of receiving an unmerited free gift in response to failure or brokenness or as an encounter with goodness and beauty, and this can be given by the divine or by other people and lastly (c) consequences entails a transformation at the intrapersonal, interpersonal and/or situational level. Our approach allows for an ecological and bottom-up understanding of grace as experienced nowadays in a secularized country and can empirically inform future studies about the connection between grace and psychological flourishing.
Highlights
Sin, redemption and grace are three fundamental ideas in Christianity
After exclusion of 52 participants who did not adhere to the inclusion criteria (Belgian nationality, mother tongue Dutch and minimum age of 18) a final sample of 456 adults was obtained with an age range from 18
Coding (QSR Nvivo Pro version 12) by the first author Inter-reliability check (10% by trainee) and search for new themes, discussion till complete agreement Creating a network of connections in accordance with the overall story valuable for the research question Refining the specifics and definitive naming and connections of the themes Checking whether the thematic network fits coding corpus by backcoding Multidisciplinary checking of analysis, finalization of network figure Selection of illustrative examples and writing a Based on a combination of the phases in thematic analysis[23] and the steps used in thematic network analysis.[24] to 93 years
Summary
Redemption and grace are three fundamental ideas in Christianity. Charis) is in general described as a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (persons, angels) for their eternal salvation.[1] The emphasis is on the total gratuity of grace with God as the ultimate source and purpose.[2] In this vein, grace summarizes the essence of God’s relationship with humans.[3]. The psychiatrist William Meissner stated that a psychology of grace must explore the relations between grace and a person’s attitudes, behaviour, emotional experience, values and ideals. He posed the question of what kind of changes may occur in the nature of man under the influence of grace.[4] He made
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