Conceptualizations of Spirituality, Religion, and Faith: Comparing Biblical Notions with the Perspectives of Protestant Christian Students at a Lutheran College

Abstract

As part of a larger investigation into the spiritual climate at one Lutheran college, we interviewed Protestant Christian students in order to compare their conceptualizations of spirituality, religion, and faith with biblical notions of those concepts. We found that the students’ understandings of those concepts only loosely reflected general understanding within the higher education literature, and a significant disconnect existed between their conceptualizations of the relevant terms and those found in the Bible. In an effort to make meaning of our findings, we discuss existing literature about religious illiteracy as it relates to inherited faith and to the impact of institutional religious affiliation.