Loving God, Loving Others: The Sacred Among American Mainline Protestant Families

Keywords

Christian families, family, Mainline Protestant families, marriage, parenting, qualitative research, religion, religiosity, religion practices, spirituality

Abstract

Quantitative research suggests a link between religion and increased relationship commitment, satisfaction, and quality in marriages and parenting. Less is known about the processes and meaning-making experiences of religious individuals and families and how or why such processes exist and function with a family context. Using in-depth qualitative interviews, 20 Mainline Protestant families (N = 47 individuals; 20 mothers, 20 fathers, and 7 youth) were examined. Major findings revealed that intra-personal sanctification (i.e., sacred relationship with God) influenced inter-personal sanctification (i.e., sacred relationships with others), across three domains: general life strengths, as well as marital and parent-child strengths. Additional findings suggested that sacred beliefs and religious practices were utilized for receiving support from God, a framework of purpose, increased unity between spouses and parent–child dyads.

Original Publication Citation

*Moore, TJ, *Hill, M. S., King, P. E., Palkovitz, R., Dollahite, D. C., & Marks, L. D. (2018). Loving God, loving others: The sacred among American Mainline Protestant families. Marriage and Family Review, 54, 733-748.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2018-06-21

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/7649

Publisher

Marriage & Family Review

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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