Journal of Psychology and Theology

In the past decade, the role of humility and empathy in promoting forgiveness of interpersonal hurts has been increasingly highlighted in the literature. The present study aimed to replicate and extend the study conducted by Kim et al. investigating the humility-empathy-forgiveness link by using a longitudinal design. One hundred and thirty-nine participants were recruited from a large Christian university and completed a series of measures of religious hurt, religious intellectual humility (RIH), empathy, and forgiveness over the course of 6 weeks. However, only participants who completed all three waves of surveys were included in the analysis (n = 81). The results of this study supported the findings of Kim et al., in that RIH and empathy both predicted forgiveness at a later time, and empathy mediated the relationship between RIH and forgiveness. However, when baseline forgiveness was controlled for, empathy and humility no longer significantly predicted forgiveness at a later time. The results of this study suggest that the predictive power of baseline forgiveness may overshadow the effects of empathy and humility over time. Limitations, practical applications, and directions for future research on the humility-empathy-forgiveness link are also discussed.

This article explores how Christian visual artists perceive and represent the divine and faith through inner visual imagery and art-making. Based on qualitative interviews and collaborative art processes with 10 UK-based artists, the study investigates the cognitive, emotional, and embodied dimensions of religious imagination. Rather than focusing on traditional iconography, the research reveals how artists engage the divine through inner images, metaphors, and material explorations shaped by lived experience. The findings suggest that faith and divine presence are often perceived not as fixed theological objects but as dynamic, felt realities emerging in artistic processes. By shifting focus from depictions of faith to the perception and embodiment of faith through imagery, this study offers new insight into theological cognition and artistic epistemologies.

Compassionate theodicy (CT), recently theorized by Bethany Sollereder, proposes a new paradigm for evaluating theodicies based on their psychological utility for individuals who suffer. While CT suggests that theodicies can foster resilience, the cognitive processes underlying this effect remain unclear. This article addresses that gap by integrating Crystal Park’s Meaning-Making Model and Janoff-Bulman’s Shattered Assumptions Theory to explain how benevolent theodical beliefs may help restore meaning and coherence following trauma. Drawing on 14 empirical studies employing the Views of Suffering Scale, this review examines correlations between benevolent theodicies (e.g., Soul-Building, Providence, Suffering God) and psychological outcomes such as reduced distress, post-traumatic growth, and vocational satisfaction. Findings consistently support CT’s central claim that theodical beliefs play a constructive cognitive role in resilience and coping. By bridging empirical psychology and contemporary theology, this study shows how theodicies can contribute to processes of meaning restoration.

This editorial introduces the empirical and theoretical works in this special issue, which examine questions about how people conceive of and think about divine realities, emotional and intellectual understandings of the divine, and the relationship between God representations and outcomes such as coping, health, faith development and leadership, and artistic expression. These examples are situated within a broader conversation about the tensions, concerns, opportunities and benefits of cross-disciplinary research between psychology and theology, including mutual theoretical refinement and exchange of methods, and the research posture involved in developing successful research. Key among these is the value of a researching community to which we suggest this special edition contributes in a modest way, especially through curating roundtable discussions on the two themes of “Cultural and psychological resources for well-being” and “Imagining the Divine and the implications for practice.” This editorial aims to illuminate entryways for scholars thinking about the challenges and features of research across these disciplines and support the emergence and growth of new researchers working at this frontier.

The God representations of people with intellectual disabilities remain largely unexplored in the psychology of religion. This Canadian arts-based study investigates how Christians with intellectual disabilities perceive God and themselves through Photovoice, guided interviews, the LAMBI God representation scale, and an adapted Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Eleven adult participants shared theological and psychological insights through photos, art, and conversation. The research challenges assumptions that theological reflection depends on heightened cognitive capacity and emphasizes the value of including neurodiverse voices in conversations about divine realities and self-identity. Findings show that even inclusive methods require ongoing adaptation to support meaningful engagement. Standardized quantitative tools often fall short in this regard, while creative, relational approaches reveal rich conceptions of God and self. This paper contributes to growing conversations around divine representation, self-worth, and the theological significance of disabled perspectives in shaping a more expansive understanding of God, identity, and the human experience.

Religion and spirituality (R/S) in mental health care has gained growing recognition, with institutions such as the Nation Health Service, World Health Organization, and World Psychiatric Association emphasizing its significance in clinical practice. However, limited attention has been given to how mental healthcare clinicians understand and interpret patients’ religious experiences. This study explores clinicians’ interpretive frameworks and practices using a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach and semi-structured interviews with eight UK-based clinicians (psychiatrists, psychologists, and CBT practitioners). Transcripts were analyzed both thematically and structurally, guided by the Four Voices of Theology. Findings are discussed through the lens of the Four Voices of Theology and offer insights into how clinicians negotiate meaning, context, and diagnosis regarding religious experiences. This research enhances understanding of clinician–patient engagement around R/S and highlights the need for more reflective, context-aware approaches in mental health care.

African Americans face disproportionate exposure to psychosocial stressors—such as systemic racism, poverty, and neighborhood disadvantage—that adversely impact mental health. Despite these exposures, they remain significantly less likely than White Americans to seek formal mental health services, often turning instead to faith leaders and church communities for support. In response, this article describes Renew Your Mind (RYM), a culturally tailored, spiritually integrated mental health training for African American clergy, co-developed through the CHURCH (Congregations as Healers, Uniting to Restore Community Health) Project, a community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) initiative. Grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles, RYM integrates evidence-based mental health strategies with Black church traditions and theological frameworks to enhance faith leaders’ ability to provide informal psychosocial support. Although designed for clergy, RYM first invites leaders to experience its benefits before adapting and modeling it within their ministries. The study is presented using Provus’s program evaluation framework, with emphasis on the first two. A brief overview of evaluation plans and preliminary findings is included, with detailed results forthcoming. RYM represents a novel, community-grounded model that bridges formal and informal care systems, addressing long-standing mental health disparities through faith-based, culturally congruent approaches.

There is a wide body of research on the impact of stress on pastors’ physical, psychological, and emotional well-being. However, we are unaware of any published studies exploring how using emotional regulation (ER) strategies influences pastors’ work-related affective well-being (AWB). This article seeks to address this gap by reporting the findings of a study that utilised a Critical Realist methodology to identify the causes and conditions producing New Zealand Baptist pastors’ AWB. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 pastors. The interviews were analysed thematically, and then through the process of abduction, the utilisation of ER strategies was identified as a plausible explanation for the variation in pastors’ AWB. We found that Baptist pastors utilise a range of adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies. In our view, pastors who utilise adaptive strategies experience long-term positive benefits for their AWB. We suggest it would be beneficial for pastors to engage in psychoeducation on ER, contextualised for pastoral ministry, to help increase their utilisation of adaptive strategies.

This theoretical article examines Roman Catholic confession as a key sacramental practice for experiencing Divine Forgiveness (DF), with a focus on Spanish-speaking Catholic contexts. It argues that the theology, ritual structure, and culturally embedded relational dynamics of confession provide insights that have not been fully integrated into the psychological literature on DF. The analysis has three aims: (1) to articulate confession as a relational and mediating space for seeking and receiving DF through the sacramental stages of contrition, confession, penance, and absolution; (2) to assess leading psychological models of DF, including sequential and relational accounts of seeking and experiencing DF, and to examine their relevance and limitations for understanding sacramentally mediated forgiveness; and (3) to conceptualize the experience of confession among Spanish-speaking Catholics, examining how cultural norms of relationality, communal belonging, and pastoral authority may shape the internalization of DF. The article concludes by outlining implications for future research and pastoral practice and emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive approaches that integrate theology and psychology to better understand DF and its impact on spiritual and psychological well-being across diverse Catholic settings.

Prior research has conceptualized and measured religious intolerance as occurring towards specific religions rather than all religious outgroups. We examined the factor structure and construct validity of the Interfaith Intolerance Scale (IIS), a measure of general ingroup religious bias and disregard for other religions. In study 1 (N = 403), an exploratory factor analysis yielded a three factor solution: Lack of reciprocal understanding, interfaith superiority, and interfaith discomfort. Internal consistency was good for two factors and limited for one factor. All factors were positively associated with conservative political ideology. In study 2 (N = 1,493), a confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model, and factors showed acceptable to good internal consistency. Evidence of construct validity was demonstrated to varying extents across factors through their relationships with conservative political ideology and dual-process constructs (need for affect, need for cognition, and empathy). Implications for measurement and theories of interfaith intolerance are discussed.

Female religious leaders often face more obstacles in their occupation than male religious leaders, yet research on the gender double standard has yet to be examined in the field of religious leadership. The current study explored the gender double standard in religious leadership by examining perceptions of male and female religious leaders and whether leaders will face similar consequences post-transgression. Christian participants were asked to read fictional vignettes: first a brief description of a male or female religious leader and then a fictitious news article describing the leader committing a transgression (financial or personal). Through questionnaires, participants evaluated the leader and indicated their intentions to attend the leader’s church before and after being exposed to the transgression. Participants then rated the sinfulness of the transgression and if the leader should be punished. Additionally, participants completed measures of intrinsic/extrinsic religious orientation, quest orientation, and post-critical beliefs. Regression analyses revealed no significant differences in evaluations of leaders based on gender alone. However, religious characteristics like intrinsic religiosity and a literal interpretation of religious content did predict greater intentions of church attendance for the male leader compared to the female leader pre-transgression. Additionally, regardless of the leader’s gender, the financial transgression was rated more negatively than the personal transgression. The findings of this study can be used to help bridge the gap between attendance of male and female-led churches by focusing on certain beliefs that lead to this gender bias.

This article provided a brief overview of the Strategic Trauma and Abuse Recovery System (STARS), including its theoretical foundation, theory of change, and the process of the treatment model. STARS is a spiritually integrated treatment model first developed in a Christian counseling environment. We desired to learn if the clients who had completed this therapy were able to describe the process of therapy and whether those descriptions would align with the treatment model as described. Nine (N = 9) participants who had successfully completed STARS participated in this qualitative study which reviewed the process of therapy. Our findings indicated close fidelity to the treatment model. Participants reported improvement in mental health symptoms, improvement in relationships, and improvement in spiritual well-being.

Literature indicates that mental health, time spent on mission, and reverse culture shock are all factors in Christian missionaries successful repatriation. The present study explored the effect of time since return, social support, and reverse culture shock on levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in long-term adult Christian missionaries during the repatriation process. I all, 31 Christian missionaries completed self-report measures of social support, reverse culture shock, depression, anxiety, and stress. Results showed that the longer an individual had been back in their passport country significantly correlated with lower levels of depression. In addition, higher levels of reverse culture shock correlated with higher levels of depression and stress. Although social support did not moderate the relationship between reentry shock and well-being, in open-ended questions, respondents indicated how valuable social support was to them in the repatriation process. Implications for sending agencies and clinicians working with repatriating adult Christian missionaries are discussed.

This article draws on theologian Walter Brueggemann’s analysis of the prophetic tradition in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures to suggest implications for psychotherapists who wish to understand and intervene with patients in more hermeneutically grounded ways. It begins with a brief biographical contextualization of Walter Brueggemann’s work as an Old Testament scholar followed by an extrapolation of key themes in his work. These are (1) the ubiquity of empire, (2) the critical dismantling of empire through grief, and (3) the penetration of despair through the resuscitation of imagination that sees a future otherwise than empire. The article then moves to implications for a hermeneutically sensitive psychotherapy that makes use of the prophetic tradition to fashion a “prophetic sensibility.” Finally, the clinical practice of a prophetic sensibility is demonstrated through an examination of relevant case material.