Psychological types and narration of religious and spiritual experiences
Insights from the Alister Hardy Archive
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23310622 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard A Vroom (0000-0002-8165-1192, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author), Jorien Copier (0000-0003-2715-1004, Radboud University Nijmegen), Carl Sterkens (0000-0001-9043-4010, Radboud University Nijmegen) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Beliefs and Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1361-7672 • E-ISSN: 1469-9362 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13617672.2026.2699083 |
| OpenAlex | W7170138734 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This study examines the relationship between psychological type and the narration of religious and spiritual experiences (RSEs). Using a qualitative, idiographic approach, 84 narrative accounts from the Alister Hardy Database were analysed, selected from over 6,000 reports on the basis of reflective depth and phenomenological clarity. Jungian psychological typology, operationalised heuristically through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), was used as an interpretive framework. The findings indicate a marked predominance of Introverted iNtuitive (IN) profiles within the analysed narratives in this Archive. In addition, the substantial presence of Thinking types suggests a recurring narrative pattern that can be described heuristically as ‘rational mysticism’, in which experiences are articulated in terms of insight and coherence. These results are interpreted in light of the Archive’s self-selected and text-based character and are understood as reflecting patterns in the narrative articulation of RSEs rather than their distribution across psychological types.
Articulation (sociology) · Character (mathematics) · Narrative · Narrative inquiry · Nomothetic and idiographic · Relation (database) · Jungian Analytical Psychology · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Personality in Adulthood
The varieties of religious experience
Religion and the five factors of personality
The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)
Religion and Well-Being
The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data
The author of John’s letters – the Evangelist, or another
The Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS)
The perceiving process and mystical orientation
Mystical spirituality and the Jungian perceiving process
The personality of the Fourth Evangelist
The four Pauls and their letters
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Personality and conceptions of religiosity across the world’s religions
"An alternative "description of personality
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |