What Does it Mean to be a Christian? Exploring the Religious Identity of Intrinsically and Extrinsically Religious Black Seventh-Day Adventist University Students

This study explored the religious identity of Black Seventh-day Adventist University students and the elements that helped form their religious identity. The unidirectional, bidirectional and channeling models of socialization was used to describe the formation of religious identity. The data were collected in two stages. At the first stage, a convenience sample of 74 students responded to the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS), which measured the levels of religiousness. At the second stage, those participants with the highest intrinsic and extrinsic scores (N = 34) were invited to participate in four focus groups. The findings showed that relationship was the principal theme that described religious identity; while ritualism, coercion, utilitarianism, familial and religious involvement were themes that described the formation of their religious identity.