Feeling grateful to God: A qualitative inquiry

Abstract

Research on feelings of gratitude to God has not kept pace with research on feelings of gratitude to other people. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the knowledge base by conducting a series of individual in-depth qualitative interviews. Four main themes emerged from these qualitative interviews. The first has to do with the interface between feelings of gratitude to God and stress, the second involves the ways in which feelings of gratitude to God are expressed, the third theme is concerned with whether God rewards the grateful and punishes the ungrateful, and the fourth theme deals with the perceived benefits of feeling grateful to God. An emphasis is placed throughout on showing how the findings can inform research on the relationships between feeling grateful to God and health.

Keywords:

• gratitude
• God
• qualitative
• health

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (Neal Krause, PI).