Familial Loss in the Context of Quaker Faith
Date
2014
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Haverford College. Department of Religion
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The Religion Prize
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
The role of religion in individuals' bereavement processes has been studied both empirically and qualitatively and has shown that religion can be a resource in coping with aversive events. Despite this evidence, few research studies have focused on the effects of religious denomination on bereavement and bereavement processes. This study contributes to this under-examined field by shedding light on the bereavement processes of six Quakers and the role that their Quaker faith played in their responses to and understanding of familial loss. Analysis of interviews with these individuals suggests a distinct Quaker response to the destabilizing experience of death, one that involves an acknowledgment and acceptance of uncertainty. This response differs from three commonly identified reactions to destabilizing experiences described as reassessment, revision and rejection of individual's previous cognitive schemas. From this study, it would appear that Quakers' religious cognitive schemas are able to withstand the destabilizing event of death and thus that in the bereavement processes of individual Friends, death affirms their acceptance and knowledge of an uncertain world.
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Mowie Freeman was a Bryn Mawr College student.