Christian Studies and Student’s Spirituality at Universitas Pelita Harapan Surabaya

[caption caption="http://campaign.loyola.edu/-/media/utility/images/campaign/prioritysliders/ministry_indivdual4.ashx"][/caption]

Background
Diversity is a fact of life. No one is the same, one person difference with other person. With the growing individualism, the demand to understand the plurality is increasing in various fields in society. This also happens in education, particularly religious education; everyone is thinking how to create a form of education that accommodates the diversity of learners. On the other hand, whether conscious or not, there is a gap between one's religious knowledge, faith and behavior. In that case, a person's behavior is not always motivated by what he/she should believe. It could even be found that people's behavior contrary to what he/she should believes. In the struggle that so, this paper has appointed.

This study is to identifying the influence of the academic subjects, Christian studies, to student’s spirituality, in UPH Surabaya. Theology and spirituality are two things that can not be separate. The knowledge of God will enforce someone to build their spirituality and their spirituality will enforce them to learn theology. Although writer realizes that there are many things that influence the student’s spirituality, but knowledge become the basis of ideology and practice of spiritual life. Therefore, students who get the religion subjects will have different spirituality than before. From this study we will identify the influence of the religion subjects that given to the student, especially in their personal life and at their social life. As my presupposition the spirituality of the student will be build with the religion subjects given by university. The end result of this paper, are expected to give and improvements; how we can improve the model of Christian education, religious education, in the context of Indonesia as a compound. So, as an Indonesia university, with a vision of global campus, I believe that this study will show us how to build Indonesia, one largest country in Asia.

Education in Indonesia
Higher Education
Law of Republic of Indonesia, number 20 in 2003, on National Education System (State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Year 2003 Number 78, Supplementary State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Number 4301), Chapter 2 about the Basis, Function and Purpose said that, "National Education functions to develop the ability and character as well as the civilization of the nation's dignity in the framework of the nation's intellectual life." Further explained that education "aims at developing the potential of learners in order to become a man of faith and piety to God Almighty, have a certain noble character, healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent, and become citizens of a democratic and accountable." Noting the early part of this law then we can conclude that the measure of the success of Indonesia's national education is the ability and character skills, other than that the first aim is faith and devotion to God Almighty. This becomes interesting when many scientists in the western view of education are only concerned with the skills and expertise in their respective fields, regardless of one's character and faith.

Furthermore, it is translated in Decision of the Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of National Education, Republic of Indonesia, number 43/DIKTI/Kep/2006, about the role for the implementation of the course of personality development (MPK) in higher education. Article 1 described, that the vision of the MPK is “a source of values and guidelines in the development and implementation of programs of study in order to deliver the student to establish his personality as a complete Indonesian man." To achieve the mission, higher education has to “help students solidify his personality that is consistently capable of embody the basic values of religion and culture, a sense of nationalism and love of homeland lifetime; in mastering, applying and developing science, technology, and art with a sense of responsibility."

In particular, this decision also provides direction for the substance of the content of the course. The substance of religion course consists of:

• One God and Godhead: faith and devotion, philosophy of lordship (Theology);
• Human: the nature of human, human dignity, and responsibilities of the human;
• Law: raise awareness to obey the law of God, and prophetic function of religion in law;
• Moral: religion as a source of moral, and morals noble in life;
• Science, Technology and the Arts: faith, science and technology and charity as a whole, requires of liability and the practice of science, and the responsibility of scientists and artists;
• Inter-religious harmony: religion is God's grace for all, and togetherness in religious plurality;
• Community: civilized and prosperous society, the role of religious communities in creating a civilized and prosperous society, and human rights and democracy;
• Culture: academic culture, and work ethic, openness and fair; and
• Politics: the contribution of religion in political life, and the role of religion in the realization of national unity

This content should be implementing in the course content of religion subject. When you consider these demands we can see that in the life of religious education in Indonesia is expected to comprehensively touch every side of human life. Not just talking about doctrine, but also about personal development of learners, to apply his faith in daily life in the community.

UPH Surabaya as Christian Higher Education
As a Christian higher education, UPH Surabaya, tried to keep the Christian mission and pay attention to government regulations. Our leader state our institution vision as “To be a prime international institution of holistic, transformational higher education that will develop competent leaders and professionals who are equipped with true knowledge, possess faith in God, and exemplify godly character.” It might be said that the education over by this institution is holistic education. Our former rector speech in the graduation day last year said:

Holistic education is education that restores and develops the entire potential of the gift of God in unity and harmony, which is considered the spiritual dimension, intellectual, emotional, physical, social, character, manners, arts, culture, and sports. Holistic education should encourage the learners, to understand oneself fully, finding his true identity, and understand the meaning and purpose of life in wholeness.

One of our leaders of UPH in other occasion said:

As a model Christian University for all of Asia, UPH is intentional in assisting students to become whole persons who develop the mind, body and character through the paradigm of spiritual and intellectual growth. Programs of study include key biblical and religious teachings that encourage spiritual development. In addition, residence life programs, sports programs and student leadership programs provide students with “real living experiences” under the guidance and direction of experienced, seasoned veterans. Students are encouraged to learn from and through all of life’s experiences. Lecturers and staff help students wrestle with many of the challenges that provide important opportunities for personal growth. (Gary A. Miller.)

Thus, to measure the success of education in UPH Surabaya, in particular religious education is the growing spirituality of learners.

Thus both the government and UPH Surabaya, we see continuity in talking about the understanding of faith and spirituality on the learners. So it is not surprising, for the evaluation of higher education in Indonesia, and specifically in UPH Surabaya, spirituality student becomes the criterion.

Spirituality and Measurement
Spirituality
Spirituality today is a word widely used in various occasions and fields. However, like love, until now no one is able to accurately provide a definition that satisfies all parties. Even long enough, experts try to define spirituality that can be accepted throughout the community. However, until now very much an evolving definition of spirituality in society, according to the perspective of each discipline and interests. Simply put, Christians understand that God is Spirit and human kind created in His image. Therefore, in the Christian tradition we can claim that being human is a spiritual being. In fact, there are some Christians, who are extreme measure other’s spirituality by saying, that those who had received the gift of the Holy Spirit have high spirituality, while those who do not or do not yet have a lower spirituality. And of course such a view is not correct, can even be said to be misguided. However, at present, the understanding of Christian spirituality to face the changing times. Today, many scholars claim that true spirituality is not talked about religion, or even some say spirituality has nothing to do with religion at all. Laszlo Zsolnai (2004, 2005) said that “Spirituality is the basis of religious beliefs and traditions. While a religion is usually based on a set of tenets that are shared by its members … spirituality is simply the context for all religious belief.” Further more, he said “spiritual more than that because a person can be spiritual – follow a spiritual path – without adhering to any particular religion. And a person who, as a matter of social convention, follows the rules and traditions of a religion can appear to be religious, without being spiritual.” Spirituality is no longer a phenomenon discussed quietly and reservedly in church circles, but has increasingly entered the public arena.

The term spirituality is derived from the word spiritualité (France). However, this word is rooted in the Greek language in the form adjective nominative masculine singular of [caption caption="yunani"]

[/caption], the spiritual man. Paul’s usage is specific when he contrasts the [caption caption="yunai"]

[/caption] and the [caption caption="yunani"]

[/caption] in 1Co. 2:13–15 the [caption caption="yunani"]

[/caption] is the man who knows God’s saving work by virtue of the Spirit of God (Kittel, 2000).

Some of definition given by some scholars according to spirituality: The presence of a relationship with a Higher Power that affects the way in which one operates in the world (Armstrong, 1995); The human response to God’s gracious call to a relationship with himself (Benner, 1989); The search for existential meaning (Doyle, 1992); A way of being and experiencing that comes about through awareness of a transcendent dimension and that is characterized by certain identifiable values in regard to self, life, and whatever one considers to be the Ultimate (Elkins, Henderson, Hughes, Leaf, and Saunders, 1988; That which is involved in contacting the divine within the Self or self (Fahlberg and Fahlberg, 1991); The way one lives out one’s faith in daily life, the way a person relates to the ultimate conditions of existence (Hart, 1994); That vast realm of human potential dealing with ultimate purposes, with higher entities, with God, with love, with compassion, with purpose (Tart, 1975); A subjective experience of the sacred (Vaughan, 1991). In general, some experts agree that spirituality is a living; dynamic process that centers on something, that person is understood as a sacred and divine. Can also, we understand spirituality as a way of achieving the holy and divine, and to achieve it, people can use different paths. Some experts explain that spirituality related to one’s practice and experience, are subjective and internal. Spirituality can also be regarded as a quest for God. That's why spirituality involves attitudes, actions, and believes in the search to know and experience God. It also can be said about innate characteristic of human being, that's why human have capability for self-transcendence. Thus, we may say that spirituality is one’s tendencies according to the ultimate being and their existential. It’s consists of all the beliefs and activities by which individuals attempt to relate their lives to God or to a divine being or some other conception of a transcendent reality.

When we talking about the theology, we trying to understand our faith, that is faith seeking understanding. Whereas when we talk about spirituality we will look at human relationships with ultimate being they believe in. Theology will help someone to find and understand what they trust in, and the understanding will help them in creating attitudes, actions, and believes to experiencing the ultimate being, that is spirituality. Thus, we can’t separate theology and spirituality, for both is very closely linked, related to the same speech that is transcendent reality and man through faith.

Measuring Spirituality
First thing first, the Bible said in 1Cor 2:14-15. “14Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.” From this passage I can say that we actually never be able to measure someone’s spirituality. Because to some extent the measurement of spirituality will be judgments for others, but God Himself is the right judgments, so actually, no human be able and allow to measure the spirituality.

Because of inability to measure the spirituality, so this research will not measure spirituality in the sense of biblical perspective. There for, I just able to measure the empirical study of spiritual experience from psychological perspective. Psychology means, we study the tendencies of some one in their mind and behavior. This area commonly call as psychology of religion, this has involved the description and analysis of certain specialized types of experience, as well as an investigation of the more ordinary ways in which religious faith affect the behaviors and cognitive process of believers (VandenBos, 2007).

Since the emergence of psychology of religion until now, we can find many instruments developed by experts to be able to pay attention to various aspects of human religious life. Once the diversity of people's behavior and the wide scope of religious life led the very diverse instrument arise, organized for the purpose of which is also very diverse. We may mention some of the instruments:

• Spiritual Well-Being Scale (Ellison, 1983; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982): a 20-item self-administered scale with two dimensions: religious and existential. Tested in a college population.
• Spiritual Perspective Scale (Reed 1987): a 10-item structured interview or questionnaire format administered in healthy and terminally ill adults shown to be reliable, accurate and relevant in those populations.
• Meaning in Life Scale (Warner 1987): 15-item administered by interview, tested in a facility for the chronically and terminally ill. The intent is for the patient to report his or her assessment of the worth of life remaining.
• Herth Hope Index (Herth, 1990): a 12-item interview containing three dimensions: temporality and future, positive readiness and expectance, and interconnectedness. Tested on family caregivers of terminally ill people and terminally ill persons as well as in community and hospital patients and family members.
• Index of Core Spiritual Experiences (INSPIRIT) (Kass 1991): an 18-item interview scale used for spiritual assessment in general population as well as hospital patients.
• Death Transcendence Scale (VandeCreek 1993, Hood 1983): a 25-item self-administered scale based on the premise that "death is transcended through identification with phenomena more enduring than oneself." This scale has been tested in a diverse adult sample including the hospital setting.
• FACT-Sp (Fitchett 1996): a 12-item scale that can be used alone or with the FACT-G, a general measure developed for cancer patients. Items examine faith and sense of purpose and meaning in life.

There are many other instruments developed by many scholars trying to understand about religious behavior and spirituality. And for this study I use the Spiritual Well Being Scale developed by Paloutzian and Ellison (1982). According to Ellison (1983), spiritual well-being can be viewed as an expression of spiritual maturity, but also as the integral experience of a person who is functioning as God intended (Ellison & Smith, 1991). So this instrument may be use to assess spirituality maturity from the perspective of psychology.

Methodology
The sample included 153 Christian undergraduate students (45.8% males and 54.2% females). They already finish all subjects for Christian Studies. All the participants were Indonesian, students from all major (Management 27.5%, Accounting 15.0%, Information System 13.1%, Creative Industry 11.8%, Law 12.4%, and Psychology 20.3%). The participants also mention their churches affiliation (Catholics 16.3%, Presbyterian 41.2%, Pentecostals 8.5%, Charismatic 26.1%, and other 7.8%)

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB - Ellison, 1983; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982) is a 20-item self-report measurement consisting of two subscales, one that represents the vertical dimension (religious well-being, RWB) and one that represents the horizontal dimension (existential well-being, EWB), each scale contains 10 items. Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert Scale with answer options ranging from” strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (6), with no mid-point. This instrument questionnaire has been adapting and translated to bahasa Indonesia. All of the RWB items contain the word God, which was replaced by Tuhan in the present study. The EWB items contain no specifically religious language, instead asking about such things as life purpose, satisfaction, and relations with the people and situations around them. From previous studies using this instrument is reported that the results of test-retest reliability is high (r = .73 to .99), as well as internal consistency reliabilities (r = .78 to .94).

Result
The results of calculations and tests of this instrument showed that the alpha coefficients (Cronbach, 1951) to SWB as a whole was .901 (p <.0001), and alpha coefficients, if item deleted, ranging from .892 to .902 (p <.0001). Alpha coefficients for RWB and EWB were .859 and .804 (p<.0001) respectively. Thus, the three scales showed good internal consistency for the current sample.

A good correlation is also indicated by the three scale and subscales. SWB scale score correlated significantly with scores RWB (r = .942, p<.0001) and EWB (r = .919, p<.0001), as well as RWB and EWB scores correlated significantly (r = .733, p<.0001). Likewise, all the corrected item-total correlations were the resource persons significant (r = .308 - .702, p<.001).

Discussion
In addition to attention to the spiritual maturity of students, the purpose of the current research is to develop adaptation SWB Scale in Indonesia version (Ellison, 1983; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982) and evaluate the reliability and validity. The calculation result shows that the Indonesian version of SWB scale has validity and reliability for a measure of spiritual maturity. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for the overall scale of SWB and RWB and EWB subscale in harmony with previous studies.

In particular, we see that the value of correlation between RWB and SWB is higher than the correlation value EWB and SWB. This is an indication that the development of the spiritual life of students is more influenced by their religious life. It can even be noted that the lowest discriminant items is also found on items EWB, and conversely the highest discriminant items found in RWB. With the majority of respondents are fourth semester students, is the end of the semester in the curriculum UPH Surabaya to obtain Christian studies, we see that there is a tendency that the Christian studies they receive significantly affect the lives of their spirituality. This is because the composition of the respondents came from various denominations in a way different teaching and pressures get high enough discriminant value. This is showing us that Christian studies are important to increasing the spiritual maturity of the students.

Although we can notice that the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient if item deleted is quite high for each item, however we also need to consider that there is value Cronbach alpha if item deleted is greater than the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient for the whole. Item no. 8, I feel very fulfilled and satisfied with life (Saya merasa lengkap dan puas dengan kehidupan), if deleted give higher Cronbach’s Alpha for the whole. This item is part of the EWB subscale, can be expected that not all of the students already understand the meaning of their lives so they have difficulty in identifying the gratification of their lives. However this is still in reasonable condition considering the process of learning continues to happen in their lives, so that we can still hope that this will change when they have reached work and in a state of well-established.

Highest discriminant value we find in item no. 11, I believe that God is concerned about my problems (Saya percaya Tuhan peduli dengan masalah hidup saya). This item is part of the RWB subscale; it is very interesting because this statement can be interpreted as respondents' experience of the divine presence in their everyday lives. I saw that, probably because of the many problems faced by students, it can be personal problems, family, education, and so on; they understand that they have limited ability to solve all the problems faced. Christian studies helps them have another orientation in the face of problems. God became the main orientation in the life of the students when they encounter problems, which are reflected in the discriminant value of this item.

Another discriminant value which is high enough shown by item no 7, I have a personally meaningful relationship with God (Saya memiliki relasi pribadi dengan Tuhan yang sangat berarti), dan item no. 17, I feel most fulfilled when I’m in close communion with God (Saya merasa lebih utuh ketika saya dalam persekutuan yang erat dengan Tuhan). These items are part of the RWB subscale; both of these items provide an overview in general that for students, a relationship with God became a staple part of their lives both personally and collectively. This is in accordance with the discussion for item no. 11, that the students feel good relationships, specifically, when they face various problems of life.

Conclusion
From this study we found that SWB Scale can be used to pay attention to the maturity of spirituality and yet have not been able directly to reveal the influence of Christian studies to spirituality itself. Maybe it would be better to create separate questionnaires so it will reveal the full influence of Christian studies to spirituality.

Furthermore, to ensure the influence of Christian studies to students, we need to be done in longitudinal studies and identified. Thus, not only will get an exact picture of the influence of Christian studies, but also can identify the individual, so individual students can be helped to reach spiritual goals, during their education in higher education.

• Bibliography
  Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Michael Argyle (2004), The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief, & Experience, New York: Routledge
• Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, and Philip L. Quinn (editors) (2010), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion- 2nd Ed., Malaysia: Wiley-Blackwell
• Darlene L. Bird and Simon G. Smith (editors) (2009), Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education: Global Perspectives, London: Continuum.
• Ellison, C. W. (1983). Spiritual well-being: conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11, 330–340. Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University
• Ellison, C. W., & Smith, J. (1991). Toward an integrative measure of health and well-being. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 19, 35–48. Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University
• Ferguson, Sinclair B. and David F. Wright, New Dictionary of Theology, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press) 2000, c1988.
• Fitzgerald, T. (2000), The Ideology of Religious Studies (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press).
• Gary R. VandenBos, PhD. (Editor in Chief), APA Dictionary of Psychology, Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007
• Kate M. Loewental (2000), The Psychology of Religion: a Short Introduction, Oxford: Oneworld.
• Keputusan Direktur Jendral Pendidikan Tinggi, Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Republik Indonesia, No: 43/DIKTI/Kep/2006, tentang Rambu-rambu Pelaksanaan Kelompok Matakuliah Pengembangan Kepribadian di Perguruan Tinggi
• Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp (editors) (2007), A Sociology of Spirituality, Hampshire: Ashgate.
• Kittel, Gerhard; Friedrich, Gerhard, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) 2000, c1964.
• Raymond F. Paloutzian, Crystal L. Park. (2005), Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, New York: The Guilford Press.
• Sinclair B. Ferguson and David F. Wright (2000, c1988), New Dictionary of Theology, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
• Undang-undang Republik Indonesia, nomor 20 tahun 2003, tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional (Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2003 Nomor 78, Tambahan Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Nomor 4301)
• Wayne E. Oates (1957), The Religious Dimensions of Personality, New York: Association Press.
• Zsolnai L (2004) Taking Spirituality Seriously. In: Zsolnai L (ed) Spirituality in Ethics in Management. Kluwer, The Netherlands, pp 189–200. 

 

Satya Hedipuspita

Surabaya, Januari 2012