The role of spiritually transformative experiences in religious history and the development of a scale to measure them.
The Journal of near-death studies 2012 DOI: 10.17514/jnds-2012-31-2-p79-97 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Transformative learning Spirituality Spiritual development Spiritual formation Scale ratio Psychotherapist Religious experience Epistemology Developmental psychology Theology |
| Key findings | The Casto Spiritually Scoring System is a reliable tool for measuring spiritual content in reports and is clinically useful in therapy. |
Abstract
Abstract: Spiritual experiences are a potent means by which a person's attitudes and behaviors may changed, usually (but not always) in benevolent ways. This article presents examples from various times and places, many from the annals organized religion. Research into spiritually transformative experiences is reviewed as is a means to measure spiritual content in written or verbal reports: the Casto Spiritually Scoring System. This instrument includes subscales regarding spiritual settings, spiritual objects, spiritual characters, spiritual emotions, spiritual activities, and spiritual experiences. The reliability of the system has been examined and found to be quite high. In addition, the system has been useful clinically when spirituality becomes an issue in counseling or psychotherapy.