Ten women described their religious lives following the suicide of a family member. Using their audio-recorded and transcribed interviews, this qualitative pilot study describes their perceptions of God's roles in the suicide and their bereavement. Religious traditions and Western culture contain ancient and contemporary Christian teachings regarding suicide and the bereaved respond to them and create their own attributions. The analysis produced four themes: 1) contrary to ancient Christian teaching, God as judge did not deny heaven to their loved one, 2) God was in control, but was not responsible for the suicide, 3) God provided individualized spiritual care, and 4) God brought good out of the tragedy. Larger and more detailed studies are needed to clarify further how theological attributions function within suicide bereavement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Association of Suicidology. (2009). www.suicidology.org. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
2.
AquinasT. (c. 1265/1981). Summa theologica. Vols. 1–5. (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans.). Notre Dame, IN: Christian Classics.
3.
AugustineA. (c. 413/2003). City of God. (H. Bettenson, Trans.). NY: Penguin Putnam.
4.
BasingerD., & BasingerR. (eds). (1986). Predestination and free will: Four views of divine sovereignty and human freedom.Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press.
5.
BeckerG., XanderC. J., BlumH. E., LutterbachJ., MommF., GyselsM., & HigginsonI. J. (2007). Do religious or spiritual beliefs influence bereavement? A systematic review. Palliative Medicine, 21, 207–217.
6.
BerryR. (1997). The Biblical teaching on suicide. Issues in Law and Medicine, 13(3), 283–299.
7.
CainA. C. (1972). Survivors of Suicide.Oxford: Charles C. Thomas.
8.
CalhounL. G., & AllenB.G. (1991). Social reactions to the survivor of a suicide in the family: A review of the literature. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 23(2), 95–107.
9.
CalhounL. G., & TedeschiR. G. (2006). Handbook of Post-traumatic Growth: Research and Practice.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates.
10.
ClarkS. (2001). Bereavement after suicide: How far have we come and where do we go from here?Crisis: Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 22(3), 102–108.
11.
ClemonsJ. T. (1990). What does the Bible Say about Suicide?Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
12.
CurrierJ. M., HollandJ. M., & NeimeyerR.A. (2006). Sense-making, grief, and the experience of violent loss: Toward a mediational model. Death Studies, 30, 403–428.
13.
CvinarJ. G. (2005). Do suicide survivors suffer social stigma: A review of the literature. Perspective in Psychiatric Care, 41(1), 14–21.
14.
DrogeA. J., & TaborJ. D. (1992). A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom among Christians and Jews in Antiquity.NY: HarperSanFrancisco.
15.
FarberowN. L., Gallagher-ThompsonD., GilewskiM., & ThompsonL. (1992). The role of social supports in the bereavement process of surviving spouses of suicide and natural deaths. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 22(1), 107–124.
16.
FrantzT. T., TrolleyB. C., & JohllM. P. (1996). Religious aspects of bereavement. Pastoral Psychology, 44(1), 151–163.
17.
GilliesJ., & NeimeyerR. A. (2006). Loss, grief, and the search for significance: Toward a model of meaning reconstruction in bereavement. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 19, 31–65.
18.
GorsuchR. L., & SmithC. S. (1983). Attributions of responsibility to God: An interaction of religious beliefs and outcomes. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22(4), 340–352.
19.
HarrisonM. O., KoenigH. G., HaysJ. C., Eme-AkwariA. G., & PargamentK. I. (2001). The epidemiology of religious coping: A review of recent literature. International Review of Psychiatry, 13, 86–91.
20.
HollandJ. M., CurrierJ. M., & NeimeyerR. A. (2006). Meaning reconstruction in the first two years of bereavement: The role of sense-making and benefit-finding. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 53(3), 175–191.
21.
JordanJ. R. (2001). Is suicide bereavement different? A reassessment of the literature. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 31(1), 91–102.
22.
JordanJ. R., & McMenamyJ. (2004). Interventions for suicide survivors: A review of the literature. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34(4), 337–349.
23.
KlassD. (1991). The Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents.Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel.
24.
KochH. J. (2005). Suicides and suicide ideations in the Bible: An empirical study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 112, 167–172.
25.
LalljeeM., BrownL. B., & HiltonD. (1990). The relationships between images of God, explanations for failure to do one's duty to God, and invoking God's agency. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 18(2), 166–173.
26.
LupferM. B., BrockK. F., & DePaolaS. J. (1992). The use of secular and religious attributions to explain everyday behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31(4), 486–503.
27.
LupferM. B., DePaolaS. J., BrockK. F., & ClementL. (1994). Making secular and religious attributions: The availability hypothesis revisited. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33(2), 162–171.
28.
McIntoshJ. L. (1985-1986). Survivors of suicide: A comprehensive bibliography. Omega, 16(4), 355–370.
29.
McIntoshJ. L. (1996). Survivors of suicide: A comprehensive bibliography update. Omega, 33(2), 147–175.
30.
MinerM. H., & McKnightJ. (1999). Religious attributions: Situational factors and effects on coping. Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, 38(2), 274–286.
31.
PargamentK. I. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice.N.Y.: The Guilford Press.
32.
PargamentK. I., & HahnJ. (1986). God and the just world: Causal and coping attributions to God in health situations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25(2), 193–207.
33.
ParkC. L. (2005). Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. Journal of Social Issues, 61(4), 707–729.
34.
RudestamK. E. (1992). Research contributions to understanding the suicide survivor. Crisis: Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 13(1), 41–46.
35.
SandelowskiM. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description?Research in Nursing and Health, 23, 334–340.
36.
SmithC. S., & GorsuchR. L. (1989). Sanctioning and causal attributions to God: A function of theological position and actors’ characteristics. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 1, 133–152.
37.
SpilkaB., & SchmidtG. (1983). General attribution theory for the psychology of religion: The influence of event-character on attributions to God. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22(4), 326–339.
38.
SpilkaB., ShaverP., & KirkpatrickL. A. (1985). A general attribution theory for the psychology of religion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 24(1), 1–20.
39.
SpilkaB., StoutL., MintonB., & SizemoreD. (1977). Death and personal faith: A psychometric investigation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 16(2), 169–178.
40.
United Methodist Church. (2004). Resolution #157 (Suicide: A challenge to ministry). In The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church—2004.Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
41.
U.S. Catholic Church. (2003). Catechism of the Catholic Church. (Part 3; Section 2; Chapter 2; Article 5). Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
42.
VandeCreekL., & MottramK. (2009). The religious life during suicide bereavement: A description. Death Studies, 33, 741–761.
43.
WeeksM., & LupferM. B. (2000). Religious attributions and proximity of influence: An investigation of direct interventions and distal explanations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39(3), 348–362.
44.
WrightP. H. (1983). A note, mostly methodological, stimulated by Ritzema and Ritzema-Young attribution studies. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11(1), 44–47.
45.
WuthnowR., ChristianoK., & KuzlowskiJ. (1980). Religion and bereavement: A conceptual framework. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 19(4), 408–422.
