Panel: PSYCHOLOGY-ENGAGED THEOLOGY



689.4 - CAN SCRUPULOSITY BE SPIRITUALLY INNOCENT?

AUTHORS:
Scrutton A.(.P. (University of Leeds ~ Leeds ~ United Kingdom)
Text:
Scrupulosity is sometimes regarded as a form of OCD which focuses especially on religious obsessions and compulsions. In this paper, drawing on my own experience and that of C.S. Lewis and others, I will expand our understanding of the phenomenology of scrupulosity. I will then turn to the question of whether scrupulosity can be 'spiritually innocent', i.e. that, in spite of scrupulosity being (I argue) a spiritual disability, a person might gain spiritual benefits as a result of having scrupulosity that they would not otherwise gain. I argue that scrupulosity can be spiritual innocent, and gesture towards three ways in which this might be the case.