Towards an Understanding of Religious People's Perceptions and Lived Experiences of Religion and Spirituality: Implications for Marriage and Family Therapists

SUMMARY

This paper presents the reader with a systematic description of religious people's perceptions, of religion and spirituality. Results from 24 Lutheran and Greek Orthodox respondents suggest (a) that religion and spirituality profoundly impact the manner in which religious people view the world, (b) that religious people view religion as more than a human construction, (c) that religious people view religion and spirituality as interrelated and interconnected spheres of experience, and (d) that salient contextual information can be missed when therapists/researchers fail to address religion and spirituality from religious people's perspectives. Implications for MFTs, and MFT researchers, are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• spirituality
• client systems
• religious development
• church community
• religious education
• moral development
• espiritual experiences
• transformative experiences
• synergy