Date
5-25-2023
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Mollie Boyd
Keywords
conscious contact with God, meditation, prayer, spiritual awakening, Twelve Step Programs, Christian Twelve Step Programs, Life Recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous, addiction
Disciplines
Counseling
Recommended Citation
Goddard, John D., "Christians' Experiences of Conscious Contact with God and Spiritual Awakening within Twelve Step Programs" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 4442.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/4442
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of Christians with conscious contact with God and spiritual awakening as a result of prayer and meditation within the context of steps 11 and 12 of the Twelve Step Programs (TSPs) and Christian Twelve Step Programs (CTSPs). The theories guiding this study were existential, transpersonal, and biblical Christianity. Existential theory emphasizes the value of understanding the subjective meaning of phenomena and transpersonal theory bridges psychological and spiritual practices thus allowing this study to derive psychologically meaningful data from descriptions of spiritual experiences and practices (prayer and meditation). A convenience sample of participants was recruited from various Twelve Step organizations and interviewed with respect to their experiences with step 11 prayers and meditation as well as spiritual awakening.
