Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being
Religious beliefs influence many behaviors and perspectives relevant to well-being and mental health. In Christianity, beliefs about how one attains salvation may be particularly relevant to psychology, but limited scholarship has considered cognitive aspects of religiosity. This study developed and...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/757 |
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| author | Anthony Edward Rose Timothy B. Smith |
| author_facet | Anthony Edward Rose Timothy B. Smith |
| author_sort | Anthony Edward Rose |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Religious beliefs influence many behaviors and perspectives relevant to well-being and mental health. In Christianity, beliefs about how one attains salvation may be particularly relevant to psychology, but limited scholarship has considered cognitive aspects of religiosity. This study developed and evaluated a new measure of Beliefs about Salvation (BAS) that assesses affirmations of salvation (a) by God’s grace alone and (b) by God’s grace after human repentance/ordinances, as understood by different Christian denominations. We examined the association of the BAS with three measures of mental health and six measures of influences on religiosity. In a sample of 1556 predominantly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Protestant Christians, which traditionally hold distinct views about the roles of divine grace and human works/ordinances necessary for salvation, the BAS data demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with two subscales, faith and works. Neither BAS subscale was significantly associated with the other variables measured in this study, except for religious legalism, which was negatively correlated with faith and positively correlated with works. Additional analyses indicated that six measures of influences on religiosity were moderately associated with one another and tended to be more strongly associated with mental health than religious involvement, with spiritual transcendence being the most strongly correlated with well-being. Psychological research can benefit from evaluating multiple aspects of religiosity, including inquiry about the psychological influence of specific religious beliefs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6558cc950d5d4b3f92653690efc3829d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-6558cc950d5d4b3f92653690efc3829d2025-08-20T03:27:32ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-06-0116675710.3390/rel16060757Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-BeingAnthony Edward Rose0Timothy B. Smith1Psychology Department, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USACounseling Psychology Department, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USAReligious beliefs influence many behaviors and perspectives relevant to well-being and mental health. In Christianity, beliefs about how one attains salvation may be particularly relevant to psychology, but limited scholarship has considered cognitive aspects of religiosity. This study developed and evaluated a new measure of Beliefs about Salvation (BAS) that assesses affirmations of salvation (a) by God’s grace alone and (b) by God’s grace after human repentance/ordinances, as understood by different Christian denominations. We examined the association of the BAS with three measures of mental health and six measures of influences on religiosity. In a sample of 1556 predominantly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Protestant Christians, which traditionally hold distinct views about the roles of divine grace and human works/ordinances necessary for salvation, the BAS data demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with two subscales, faith and works. Neither BAS subscale was significantly associated with the other variables measured in this study, except for religious legalism, which was negatively correlated with faith and positively correlated with works. Additional analyses indicated that six measures of influences on religiosity were moderately associated with one another and tended to be more strongly associated with mental health than religious involvement, with spiritual transcendence being the most strongly correlated with well-being. Psychological research can benefit from evaluating multiple aspects of religiosity, including inquiry about the psychological influence of specific religious beliefs.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/757religionspiritualityfaithsalvationgracelegalism |
| spellingShingle | Anthony Edward Rose Timothy B. Smith Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being Religions religion spirituality faith salvation grace legalism |
| title | Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being |
| title_full | Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being |
| title_fullStr | Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being |
| title_full_unstemmed | Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being |
| title_short | Christian Beliefs About Salvation: Measurement and Associations with Mental Health and Well-Being |
| title_sort | christian beliefs about salvation measurement and associations with mental health and well being |
| topic | religion spirituality faith salvation grace legalism |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/757 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT anthonyedwardrose christianbeliefsaboutsalvationmeasurementandassociationswithmentalhealthandwellbeing AT timothybsmith christianbeliefsaboutsalvationmeasurementandassociationswithmentalhealthandwellbeing |