Abrahamic Categorization
A religious psychology intervention to reduce interreligious conflict between Muslims, Christians and Jews
In this project, we are investigating the role of “Abrahamic categorization” for intergroup relations and conflicts. So far, we have found that Christians, Muslims and Jews who acknowledge and endorse their shared common Abrahamic heritage are more positive towards each other and show less religious discrimination and hostility. This we have demonstrated in relatively calm intergroup settings but also in contexts characterized by ongoing conflict (i.e., Palestine and Israel). Colleagues (Mashuri et al., 2017) have demonstrated similar effects in South-East Asia, showing that the measure is related to more collective guilt and empathy for religious groups with a history of violent conflict. We encourage researchers to use the Abrahamic categorization scale in their research. The scale is short and has so far shown satisfactory psychometric properties across various contexts and different languages. Depending on the purpose, the scale can be linguistically adjusted to include all or only a selection of the Abrahamic religious groups. The response format is typically a Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Please, feel free to use one of the translations presented below. Also, feel free to translate the scale to another language using forward-back translation. We would appreciate if you would share this translation with us, so that we can publish it here. If you have published research using the scale, we would also appreciate if you would inform us about it, so that we can add a link to it here.
This is a joint project led by Jonas R. Kunst currently in collaboration with
- Sasha Kimel, California State University
- Maor Shani, Hebrew University
- Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti, University of Helsinki
- Viivi Eskelinen, University of Helsinki
- The 1000 Abrahamic Circles Project
Article to cite when using the scale:
Kunst, J. R., Thomsen, L., & Sam, D. L. (2014). Late abrahamic reunion? Dual identity mediates the effect of religious fundamentalism on intergroup bias among Christians and Muslims. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 337-348. [PDF]
Additional Articles using the Scale:
Kunst, Jonas R.; Kimel, Sasha; Shani, Maor; Alayan, Ramzi & Thomsen, Lotte (2018). Can Abraham Bring Peace? The Relationship Between Acknowledging Shared Religious Roots and Intergroup Conflict. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. [PDF]
Mashuri, A., Zaduqisti, E., and Alroy‐Thiberge, D. (2017) The role of dual categorization and relative ingroup prototypicality in reparations to a minority group: An examination of empathy and collective guilt as mediators. Asian J Soc Psychol, 20: 33–44. doi: 10.1111/ajsp.12163. [LINK]
Kunst, J. R. & Thomsen, Lotte (2015). Prodigal sons: Dual Abrahamic categorization mediates the detrimental effects of religious fundamentalism on Christian-Muslim relations. The international journal for the psychology of religion, 25(4), 293-306. [PDF]
Translations
English
- Because Ibrahim is the progenitor of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, one can say that Muslims, Jews and Christians belong to the same ‘family’ of religions
- Christians, Jews and Muslims believe in an Abrahamic religion.
- Even though Islam, Judaism and Christianity are different religions, they all belong to the same group of religions.
- Judaism, Christianity and Islam have common roots.
Arabic
كون سيدنا ابراهيم عليه السلام هو يعتبر الجد الاعلى لديانات الاسلام واليهودية و المسيحية، فمن الممكن القول ان المسلمين و اليهود والمسيحيين ينتمون لنفس العائلة من الاديان.
المسيحيون و اليهود والمسلمون يؤمنون بدين ابراهيمي.
بالرغم من ان الاسلام و اليهودية و المسيحية هي ديانات مختلفة، الا انهم ينتمون الى نفس المجموعة من الاديان.
المسيحية و اليهودية و الاسلام لها نفس الجذور المشتركة.
German
- Da Abraham/Ibrahim sowohl im Islam als auch im Christentum der Stammesvater ist, kann man sagen, dass Muslime und Christen zur gleichen “Religionsfamilie” gehören.
- Sowohl Christen als auch Muslime glauben an eine abrahamitische Religion.
- Obwohl der Islam und das Christentum verschiedene Religionen sind, gehören beide der gleichen Gruppe von Religionen an.
- Das Christentum und der Islam haben gemeinsame Wurzeln.
Hebrew
אנא ציין באיזו מידה אתה מסכים עם ההיגדים הבאים:
- בגלל שאברהם הוא אבי האיסלאם, היהדות והנצרות, אפשר לומר שמוסלמים, יהודים ונוצרים שייכים לאותה ‘משפחה’ של דתות.
- נוצרים, יהודים ומוסלמים מאמינים בדת אברהמית.
- למרות שאיסלאם, יהדות ונצרות הן דתות שונות, כולן שייכות לאותה קבוצה של דתות.
- ליהדות, נצרות ואיסלאם יש מקור משותף.
Indonesian
- Oleh karena Nabi Ibrahim adalah Bapak Leluhur agama Islam dan Kristen, maka bisa dikatakan bahwa Islam dan Kristen merupakan dua agama yang berasal dari “keluarga” agama yang sama.
- Baik umat Islam maupun Kristen sama sama mengimani Nabi Ibrahim meskipun memiliki perbedaan ajaran dan praktek peribadatan.
- Meskipun Islam dan Kristen adalah agama yang berbeda, keduanya bersumber dari rumpun agama yang sama.
- Agama Islam dan Krsiten memiliki akar yang sama meskipun memiliki keunikan dan perbedaan masing masing.
Source: Mashuri, Zaduqist, & Alroy‐Thiberge, 2017
Norwegian
- Fordi Abraham er stamfaren til både islam og kristendommen kan man si at muslimer og kristne hører til samme “familie” av religioner.
- Kristne og muslimer tror på en abrahamittisk religion.
- Til tross fro at islam og kristendommen er forskjellige religioner hører begge til samme gruppe av religioner.
- Kristendommen og islam har felles røtter.