A Metaphorical Study on the Concept of God Among University Students Who Experienced the February 6 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes

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Abstract

This study aims to explore the conceptions of God among university students who experienced the February 6, 2023 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, which affected eleven provinces. The research seeks to reveal how individuals reconstruct their worlds of meaning following a traumatic natural disaster by analyzing the metaphors they developed. The central focus of the study is how students positioned and understood God in the face of such a devastating life event. Adopting a qualitative research design grounded in phenomenology, the study utilized a semi-structured metaphor perception form to identify participants’ conceptions of God. Data were collected from 47 students studying at Kilis 7 Aralık University who directly experienced the earthquake. The findings were analyzed through content analysis and descriptive analysis techniques. The analysis resulted in four main categories. The largest number of metaphors was grouped under the “Image of Power,” reflecting the participants’ need to seek refuge in divine omnipotence amid feelings of helplessness. The categories of “Protector and Guide” and “Love” indicate that God was perceived as a spiritual shelter and a source of inner healing in an environment where physical security had been lost. The “Image of Unknowability” points to the transcendent and ineffable dimension of God. Overall, the findings demonstrate that students held predominantly positive conceptions of God, which provided them with trust, surrender, and psychological support during the recovery process.