Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a minoritized and marginalized population in the United States and on most college and university campuses (Rockenbach, Bowman, et al., 2017). Recent studies highlight the negative characteristics of campus environments that affect Latter-day Saint undergraduate students' experiences. Furthermore, non-Latter-day Saint college students know little about Latter-day Saint beliefs and do not dedicate time to learn about them during college (Rockenbach et al., 2020).
This qualitative study aimed to explore the question: How might interfaith engagement take shape for Latter-day Saint undergraduate students in the context of the interfaith learning environment? I used a post-intentional phenomenological research approach (Vagle, 2018) to investigate the research question and guide my study.
The findings revealed that students' Latter-day Saint identity and the context of their experiences shaped their interfaith engagement. Additionally, both intrafaith and interfaith engagement influenced students' interfaith learning and development while in college.
This study has implications for university administrators, faculty, and staff, Latter-day Saint Institute Directors, and Latter-day Saint students. The findings also have implications for future research on interfaith engagement, interfaith learning and development, and experiences of Latter-day Saint undergraduate students. / Doctor of Philosophy / Students who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not as accepted in the United States or on college campuses. However, they also hold privileges other religious groups do not, including Christian privilege and the ability to choose when and with whom they tell about their religion.
This study aimed to explore Latter-day Saint undergraduate students' interfaith engagement. Interfaith engagement means having intentional experiences where people from different religions interact. As a result, educators can create places for students with different religious beliefs to engage in meaningful ways. In this study, I examined how Latter-day Saint students' faith identity shaped their interactions with others and how interfaith engagement influenced their faith identities.
This research shows that faith identity and environment affect Latter-day Saint students' interaction with other faith traditions. Moreover, the extent of their engagement within and outside of their religion helps shape their interfaith learning and development in college.
This study is important because it helps us learn more about what Latter-day Saint students experience within an interfaith learning environment. In addition, this study is the first of its kind, filling an essential gap in the literature about the interfaith learning and development of Latter-day Saint college students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115199 |
| Date | 25 May 2023 |
| Creators | Anderson, Ian James |
| Contributors | Higher Education, Robbins, Claire K., Perillo, Patricia Ann, Lane, Tonisha B., Christensen, Danille |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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