How the Perception of God as a Transcendent Moral Authority Influences Marital Connection among American Christians
Dynamics that link individuals' perceptions of God as a transcendent moral authority and marital connection were analyzed in depth using qualitative data from a sample of 48 Christian spouses from California and New England. Thirty six individuals expressed their perception of God as a transcendent moral authority, and compared to 12 who did not, they conveyed three distinctive religious marital dynamics. These were all processes to promote marital unity that engaged God, namely: (1) spouses modified their individual behavior in marriage with reference to their God model, (2) they shared as a couple the goal to obey God together, and (3) they perceived that God strengthened their marital bond. Further, there were underlying common factors to these three dynamics: (a) the spouses' perception of God as a being who has an integrated personality of divine attributes including demand for loyalty to God and interpersonal care, (b) their emulation of God, as well as having a relationship with God, in the form of obedience and receiving grace, and (c) their marriage being centered in God in a way that the relationship is characterized by their dealings with God. This structure was different from that of the individuals who did not view God as a transcendent moral authority. Specifically, these spouses focused more on individual autonomy, communication, or religion itself in regard to marriage; but not on God who has personality and authority. Thus introducing one unique vertical dimension, perceiving God as transcendent moral authority, to marriage appears to be associated with distinctive dynamics and a sociopsychological structure within the marriage relationship.In recent years, there have been calls for studies that link religion and family life together while also dealing with substantive aspects of religiousness, such as doctrinal beliefs, in order to provide detailed explanations for the various psychological and relational processes behind the link (Mahoney, Pargament, Swank, Tarakeshwar, 2001; Mahoney, 2010) There are some recent studies that have begun to address the need to better understand religion's dynamic functions in family relationships (e.g. Murray Swank, Mahoney, Pargament, 2006) Yet, a significant knowledge gap still remains in this area. For example, explaining the effects of religion on marriage is called for by the studies of transformative processes in marriage (Fincham, Stanley, Beach, 2007) Transformative processes in marriage are processes such as commitment, sacrifice, and forgiveness, which establish and maintain couple relationships through the inevitable ups and downs of married life. Fincham et al. (2007) identify religion as a potential "deep meaning structure" (p. 281) that has a potential to induce iterative transformative processes in marriage. They assert that even though understanding the roles of religion conducive to these self regulatory processes is crucial, "sufficient depth to fully understand the implications for marital transformation" (p. 281) has not been probed.The dynamic connections between religion and marriage involve foundational worldviews because both deal with the groundwork for life, most likely in an intermingled way. Qualitative analysis of data on the interface of religion and marriage is a relevant approach to assist with unraveling this aspect of the question. One potentially effective focus of analyzing the substantive and structurally influential aspects of couples' religious orientations is on the presence, or lack thereof, of what have been termed "vertical" (i.e. between spouse and God) and "horizontal" (i.e. between spouses) dimensions of religiosity (e.g. Benson, Donahue, Erickson, 1993; Goodenough, 2001) For example, in studying the link between religion and marriage, in addition to studying the aspects of loving and supporting interactions between spouses (the horizontal dimension) it must be determined whether one perceives God as one's transcendent moral authority (the vertical dimension) and, if so, what influences that perception may have on marital relationships.