Psychological and Biblico-Theological Exploration of Spirituality and Religiosity using Grounded Theory: Clergy’s Perspective

Spirituality and religiosity are often used interchangeably in studies without a clear consensus on their meanings. This article argues that these terms represent distinct concepts and must be differentiated. Despite their significance, research on distinguishing them is limited. This study defines religiosity and spirituality through narratives from focused group discussions (FGD) of nine clergy-seminary master's level students in Indonesia actively involved in ministry. They provided their perspectives on what the terms meant to them based on their ministry experiences. In order to explore the psychological and biblico-theological meanings, grounded theory procedures were used to code the resulting narratives, leading to a working definition of spirituality and religiosity in the context of Christian churches in Indonesia. In this setting, spirituality is more commonly understood and used than religiosity. Results suggest that spirituality has more to do with internal conditions arising from a relationship with God. However, the expression of this relationship is more influenced by religion.