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Scriptural Coping: An Empirical Test of Hermeneutic Theory
Author(s) -
DeAngelis Reed T.,
Bartkowski John P.,
Xu Xiaohe
Publication year - 2019
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/jssr.12576
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , psychosocial , psychology , socioeconomic status , depressive symptoms , social psychology , reading (process) , sociology , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , philosophy , anxiety , population , linguistics , demography
This study develops and tests a theory of scriptural coping. Using elements from hermeneutic theory as our guide, we contend that (1) specific life exigencies will increase the likelihood of someone turning to scripture for relevant insights and (2) reading scripture for relevant insights will moderate associations between exigencies and psychological well‐being. Analyzing nationally representative data from the 2012 General Social Survey ( n = 1,551), we find that poor self‐rated health and low socioeconomic status increase the likelihood of someone reading scripture for insight into attaining health and wealth, respectively. Moreover, reading scripture for health insights amplifies the positive association between poor health and depressive symptoms, thereby suggesting a stress‐exacerbating effect of scriptural coping. Scripture is a polysemous resource, one that can alternatively provide comfort or trigger negative coping in the face of psychosocial stress. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings and outline avenues for future research.