TWU researchers explore life meaning and purpose for the spiritual but not religious

What does spiritual flourishing look like for those forgoing traditional faiths? Researchers at TWU take a look at the search for meaning among the spiritual but not religious.

Discovering the spiritual yearnings of our times

Dr. Myron A. Penner is a professor of philosophy with a cross-appointment in psychology at TWU who is examining the spiritual lives of those who pursue spirituality outside of organized religion. He is part of a multi-disciplinary project to understand the search for meaning among the spiritually curious but nonreligious.

Together with his psychology collaborators, Emily Burdett (Psychology, University of Nottingham) and Adam Baimel (Psychology, Oxford Brookes University), Dr. Penner has been awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation Spiritual Yearning Research Initiative (SYRI). Joining their research team is post-doctoral researcher Dr. Nachita Rosun (Oxford Brookes University).

The team's focus is on understanding the experience and psychological makeup of those who are spiritual but not religious, including the nature of their spiritual yearnings, their beliefs, and how their spirituality is expressed and applied in areas such as morality, parenting and social relationships.

TWU graduate research fellows will explore how spiritual yearning relates to the ways one conceives of their life's meaning or purpose.

Spiritual flourishing research

Moreover, with the help of three TWU graduate research fellows, Dr. Penner will pursue an expanded scope of inquiry on spiritual flourishing.

TWU graduate student Hannah Clarke is especially interested in exploring how spiritual yearning relates to an individual's well-being, happiness, and flourishing.

She and two other students from TWU's MA in Interdisciplinary Humanities program, Rowen Zamora and Logan Bateman, are part of Dr. Penner's new Religion and Meaning-Making Lab that seeks to use both scientific and philosophical tools to understand religion, spirituality, and meaning-making.

As graduate research fellows, they will explore how spiritual yearning relates to the ways one conceives of their life's meaning or purpose.

"I am interested in bringing philosophical and psychological literature into conversation on questions of spiritual flourishing, and more specifically on questions of meaning and purpose."

Equipped for future paths

Through graduate coursework and weekly meetings, TWU students grow as researchers and are equipped to pursue further doctoral training or other academic or industry avenues.

Zamora sees involvement in the project under Dr. Penner as a natural extension of his undergraduate work on religion through the lens of philosophy, theology, and psychology, adding, "I see a great opportunity to further explore religion in the literary, philosophical, psychological, and historical imagination while preparing myself for future Ph.D. work in philosophy and experimental psychology."

Bateman has a similar passion for combining philosophy with psychology research, and says, "In all my undergraduate psychology classes I couldn't help but talk about the philosophical implications of the theories we studied, or the origins of these concepts (like autonomy and rights) that we just take for-granted."

Clarke is also excited to be part of this interdisciplinary research, expressing, "I am interested in bringing philosophical and psychological literature into conversation on questions of spiritual flourishing, and more specifically on questions of meaning and purpose."

"...What is their spirituality directed towards? What is the object of their spiritual yearning? What does spiritual success look like?"

Spirituality beyond religion

Within conventional systems, spiritual life may be more predictable. "In traditional faith practices," Dr. Penner begins, "one's spiritual longings tend to be prescribed by others. That is, what your spiritual longing is supposed to be directed towards is kind of defined for you by your tradition, its sacred texts and both historical and contemporary authority figures."

"In most forms of Christianity, for example, one's spiritual yearning is supposed to be directed towards God and is grounded in a particular understanding of what God is like, and how people are to be in relationship to God."

No longer bound by religious tradition, the spiritual but not religious may believe otherwise. "If you think about people who are trying to pursue spirituality without the context or constraints of a tradition-driven religion, the questions then arise: what is their spirituality directed towards? What is the object of their spiritual yearning? What does spiritual success look like?"

The shape of our spiritual lives

Through surveys, interviews, and experiments, Dr. Penner and his team seek to uncover the spiritual longings, beliefs, practices, and psychological makeup of those who pursue spirituality outside of religious structures.

Their work combines empirical psychological data and philosophical analysis to better understand the segment of society who are spiritually aware but religiously unaffiliated.

Dr. Penner believes that this learning is critical as the patterns of faith and religious affiliation are shifting within Canada, U.S,. and U.K. "In those contexts," he comments, "there is a growing population of people who, through a variety of different causes, have become disillusioned with traditional religions who still want to pursue some kind of spiritual existence."

The team will also compare the psychological similarities and differences between people who are spiritual but not religious and people who practice spirituality in the context of a tradition-driven religion. By doing so, the insights gleaned from non-religious populations can increase understanding of faith within religious traditions as well.

"The exchange goes both ways," Dr. Penner says. "There are things that we can learn about spirituality within religion by comparing it to spirituality pursued outside of religion."

See also: TWU research on beauty and truth in science and religion

About the project

Led by Dr. Myron A. Penner, the project "Objects of Spiritual Yearning Among the Spiritual but not Religious" is funded by the John Templeton Foundation ($758,425 USD) and runs from January 2024 to Sept. 2026. This cross-disciplinary project involves collaborators from the U.K. and U.S., as well as graduate research fellows from TWU's MA in Interdisciplinary Humanities program.

About TWU's School of Graduate Studies

At TWU, graduate students will not only receive a top-quality education, but they will also become a part of a community that is dedicated to using their education and skills to make a positive impact on the world. TWU is known for its commitment to innovation and providing its students with the tools and resources they need to succeed in their chosen fields. Learn more about graduate studies at TWU.

About Trinity Western University

Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is a global Christian liberal arts university. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has locations in Canada: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Instagram @trinitywestern, Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

For media inquiries, please contact: media@twu.ca.

Images from Unsplash.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.