Spiritual Suffering from Medieval German Mysticism to Mother Teresa: A Psycholinguistic Analysis

Abstract

Two computer programs, SSWC (Sundararajan-Schubert Word Count) and LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count), were used in combination to analyze the texts of 3 religious writers—one true mystic (Johannes Tauler), one false mystic (Thomas Müntzer) from medieval German Christianity, and one modern “saint,” Mother Teresa (Warren, 2010, p. 7). Results suggest that reflections on spiritual suffering that loom large in both medieval German mysticism and Mother Teresa constitute an adaptive approach to negative emotions, so far unexplored. Implications for research on negative religious coping, and adaptive versus maladaptive reflections on negative emotions will be discussed.

Notes

Note. Variables not in bold will not be analyzed due to low baseline.

Note. N = number of paragraphs randomly selected. Min = minimum number of words in a selected passage. Max = maximum number of words in a selected passage.

Note. *, ** and *** represent statistical significance at .05, .01 and .001, respectively. NS = not significant. No need = Pair-wise comparison is not needed due to no significant difference in writing style among all three authors. p _1i, p _2i and p _3i represent the proportions of the ith SSWC variable for Tauler, Müntzer, and Mother Teresa, respectively.

Note. *, ** and *** represent statistical significance at .05, .01 and .001, respectively. NS = not significant. No need = Pair-wise comparison is not needed due to no significant difference in writing style among all three authors. p _1i, p _2i and p _3i represent the proportions of the ith LIWC variable for Tauler, Müntzer, and Mother Teresa, respectively.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Louise Sundararajan

Louise Sundararajan chairs the Task Force on Indigenous Psychology, which is joined by over a hundred leaders in the field from around the globe. She served as past president of The International Society for the Study of Human Ideas on Ultimate Reality and Meaning, and also past president of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of APA). She is recipient of the Abraham Maslow Award for 2014, and also a Fellow of APA. She serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Research on Emotions, and has published extensively on topics related to culture and emotions.

Chulmin Kim

Chulmin Kim is Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics, University of West Georgia.