Communion and Complaint: Attachment, Object-Relations, and Triangular Love Perspectives on Relationship with God

Abstract

The present study attempted to find empirical connections between the attachment, object-relations, and triangular love perspectives as they apply to relationship with God. Attachment to God and object-relations perspectives on God have already been extensively investigated in the literature. In this study, it was observed that the triangular love model (Sternberg, 1986) could also be applied to relationship with God. Using established instruments from each literature—attachment, object-relations, triangular love—it was observed that two factors best explained the correlations among these instruments. The first factor, “Communion,” describes the degree of intimacy, closeness, dependency, and trust in the God-relationship. The second factor, “Complaint,” describes the degree of disappointment and/or frustration involved in the God-relationship. Because these two factors—Communion and Complaint—are orthogonal, it is argued that the commingling of Communion and Complaint in the God-relationship is one feature that can imbue this relationship with an emotional dynamic similar to that observed in human love relationships.