Emotional Encounters in Sacred Spaces: The Case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Individual experience and emotion are critical to a complete understanding of the transformative effect of sacred spaces on people's lives. We implement an in-depth qualitative examination of the spiritual experiences from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were allowed the opportunity to freely articulate their emotions when attending meetinghouses and temples as well as discuss the spiritual significance of these sites. We found that these spaces transcended the “everyday,” had a considerable capacity to inspire emotio-spiritual encounters, particularly feelings of peace, and further served as evidence of a deeper individual gradation of sacred space.