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The Spiritual Self‐In‐Relation: Empathy and the Construction of Spirituality Among Modern Descendants of theSpanish Crypto‐Jews[Note 1. This research was supported by the Joseph Fichter Award ...]
Author(s) -
Jacobs Janet Liebman
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/0021-8294.00005
Subject(s) - spirituality , relation (database) , empathy , judaism , psychology , ethnic group , ethnography , population , social psychology , sociology , developmental psychology , anthropology , theology , demography , philosophy , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , database , computer science
The research that is presented here explores the role that empathic attachment plays in the development of the religious self. Based on an ethnographic study of modern descendants of the Spanish crypto‐Jews, the work applies self‐in‐relation theory to the study of spirituality and religious belief acquisition among a population of individuals who, in adulthood, have modified their religious world view as a result of their crypto‐Jewish heritage. The findings of the research expand the parameters of self‐in‐relation theory in three important ways: 1) through an examination of the role that empathic attachment plays in adult conversion patterns; 2) through the elaboration of a developmental model that considers the significance of empathic attachment for sons as w ll as daughters; and 3) through an investigation into the relationship between ethnicity and spiritual development.