Abstract

Quest religiosity is characterized by an openness toward religious doubt and uncertainty as a way to grow existentially. The current paper examines how death awareness contributes to quest (vs low quest) Christians' reactions toward a Jesus depicted as doing biologically human actions (e.g., vomiting, bleeding). Study 1 evaluated quest persons' reactions to either a humanistic Christ or a neutral Jesus passage. Essay evaluations were examined in Study 2 as a function of quest and mortality salience. Study 3 measured death-thought accessibility following a creaturely Jesus prime for quest individuals. Participants who scored low on quest were more negative toward a creaturely, rather than neutral, Jesus. These effects were exaggerated following thoughts of death. Finally, low quest persons reported heightened death thoughts due to incarnational ambivalence. Theimplications are discussed.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call