A New Lens for Seeing: A Suggestion for Analyzing Religious Belief and Belonging among Emerging Adults through a Constructive-Developmental Lens
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Research Trends on Religious Belief and Belonging among Emerging Adults
The example reveals that Overstreet’s analysis goes beyond taking the student’s words at face value. Instead, she takes into account the interior processing of the individual and their cognitive development as college students.The students’ reflections on their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices often conveyed a longing for independence and autonomy (e.g., not going to church because your parents tell you [Molly], disagreeing with your parents so they know you have developed your own beliefs [Justin]).
3. Recognizing the Cognitive Development of Emerging Adults
3.1. Seeing through the Cognitive-Developmental Lens
3.2. Translating the Constructive-Developmental Lens to Religious Setting
4. Reading through the Constructive-Developmental Lens
4.1. Seeing beyond the Concrete, But…
But in reality, kids go to church because they think that is what kids do, they don’t realize they have a choice.
It was not until I went to college that I was officially out of the Catholic Church. I was no longer forced to be Catholic. When this finally happened I was relieved and happy, really now I was able to make my own decisions. I have never went back to church.
In each of these, we notice that she not only names choice, but can apply it to multiple situations, reflecting a capacity to work with choice as a value. Yet, we should also notice that her lack of freedom did not come from religious injunctions, but from parental restrictions. While still limited in some ways to the self-referential concern of the second-order knower, her statements indicate that she is gaining the capacity for formal operational thought, a necessary precursor for third-order knowing.I went to Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school. That was something that I did not have a choice in either.
4.2. Authority and the Possibility of Choice
The interview transcript indicates that Edward can think in terms of allegiances and that different communities have different ways of seeing things. A “face value” reading of the interview assumes that Edward’s perception of science and Catholicism is accurate and his decision to disaffiliate well founded. What remains unexamined in the interview is determining with more clarity on what his decision is based.I always have been very smart and I was always studious. But as I started to enjoy math and science more I just realized the discrepancy between science and religion. I guess that was another shaking point. Obviously the two can coexist fairly easily, people do it all the time, but for me I was one of those more toward the science end of things. Catholicism, especially, did seem to clash fairly well…. That pushed me away from the Church a bit more because of the belief in science that really didn’t stack up with religion as far as agreeing with each other.
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
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O’Keefe, T.A.; Jendzejec, E. A New Lens for Seeing: A Suggestion for Analyzing Religious Belief and Belonging among Emerging Adults through a Constructive-Developmental Lens. Religions 2020, 11, 573. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110573
O’Keefe TA, Jendzejec E. A New Lens for Seeing: A Suggestion for Analyzing Religious Belief and Belonging among Emerging Adults through a Constructive-Developmental Lens. Religions. 2020; 11(11):573. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110573
Chicago/Turabian StyleO’Keefe, Theresa A., and Emily Jendzejec. 2020. "A New Lens for Seeing: A Suggestion for Analyzing Religious Belief and Belonging among Emerging Adults through a Constructive-Developmental Lens" Religions 11, no. 11: 573. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110573