Brett BlountFollow

Date

6-2018

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Fred Milacci

Keywords

Bible College, College Fit, Process, Spiritual Environment, Spiritual Integration, Spirituality

Disciplines

Higher Education | Religion

Abstract

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explain how undergraduate students integrate spiritually into Bible colleges in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States and discern the role spiritual integration plays in persistence. Spiritual integration of Bible college undergraduate students occurs when they perceive that their spirituality, whether possessed by them upon their enrollment and/or formed during their attendance, has aligned with the spiritual environment of their college and therefore have accepted their place in that environment. A total of 35 participants, 28 students and seven faculty members, were interviewed to obtain their perceptions of how students experience the process of spiritual integration within the unique environments found in Bible colleges in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The analysis of data collected in the study produced The Spiritual Integration Model which shows how students undergo the process of seeking God and a spiritual education, discovering a college family within an appealing college environment, developing relationally and spiritually, applying their knowledge and skills through participating in their college and contributing to God and their community, and finally accepting their place in the college’s spiritual environment. The alignment of students’ spirituality with a Bible college’s spiritual environment as well as their acceptance, or refusal, of their place in the college was found to influence decisions to persist.

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