Restoring Pastors Following a Moral Failure: The Effects of Self-Interest and Group Influence

We studied attitudes toward restoring a pastor following a moral failure using an experimental design. Sixty undergraduates (43 women, 17 men) read a narrative in which a pastor admitted to an adulterous affair with a congregant. Following exposure to one of four conditions formed by the two levels...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pastoral psychology 2009, Vol.57 (5-6), p.275-284
Main Authors: Pop, Jennifer L., Sutton, Geoffrey W., Jones, E. Grant
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adultery
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Clergy
Clinical Psychology
Cross Cultural Psychology
Forgiveness
Infidelity
Morality
Pastoral counseling
Psychology
Religious congregations
Religious Studies
Selfinterest
Sociology
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Summary:We studied attitudes toward restoring a pastor following a moral failure using an experimental design. Sixty undergraduates (43 women, 17 men) read a narrative in which a pastor admitted to an adulterous affair with a congregant. Following exposure to one of four conditions formed by the two levels of two independent variables, a self-interest condition (pastoral counseling referral) and a group discussion condition, participants provided their forgiveness and restoration to ministry ratings. After adjusting for participant gender, we found a significant main effect for group discussion and the interaction of self-interest and group discussion. We discussed the possible implications for group and self-interest factors when considering pastoral restoration.
ISSN:0031-2789
1573-6679
DOI:10.1007/s11089-008-0162-x