What is it about?
This article explores the ways in which attachment theory has been applied to research into religion. It extends current approaches by using attachment theory to inform values and heuristic tools that enable the evaluation of dynamics within religious communities (especially Christian communities), as they relate to critical thinking and personal exploration. By highlighting the importance of both anchorage and exploration, attachment theory gives us key tools for understanding what it can mean to be human and to flourish. This creates leverage for understanding the dynamics within religious communities as either affirming or harmful of human freedom.
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Why is it important?
It is important for those who are part of religious communities to be equipped with tools for evaluating community cultures and dynamics, to ascertain when certain statements or practices can be helpful or harmful. Critical thinking tools allow adherents to exercise freedom in how they respond to assertions made 'on behalf of God'.
Perspectives
This article arose out of my personal experience growing up for the first ten years of life in a fundamentalist-style Pentecostal church, where reality was interpreted in a very binary fashion (right/wrong) and where biblical literalism and divine command theory were prevalent. I found attachment theory to be an empowering and life-giving framework for understanding why many of the dynamics in my experience of religion had been so difficult for me to cope with. I wanted to share my discoveries with others through this article, in the hope that they too could be empowered to think critically and act for their own dignity and freedom.
Sarah Bacaller
Western Sydney University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Gaining a Foothold, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, May 2024, Equinox Publishing,
DOI: 10.1558/jasr.27258.
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