Fireside Chat: Attachment, Spirituality & Community

With Pehr Granqvist & Filip Bromberg
April 22 · 18:30–21:00
Emerge Lakefront
200 SEK (Residents of Lakefront attend for free) 

An evening exploring how our earliest relationships shape the way we seek meaning, experience spirituality, and build community.

Professor Pehr Granqvist is internationally recognized for his research at the intersection of attachment theory and religion/spirituality. His work has shown how representations of God can function as attachment figures, and how secure and insecure attachment patterns are reflected in different forms of religiousness and spiritual life. Through this lens, spirituality can be understood not only as belief, but as a relational process deeply intertwined with emotion regulation, trust, and autonomy.

In a time when many people seek depth outside traditional religious institutions, questions of attachment become especially relevant. Experiences of surrender, transcendence, and transformation can activate core relational dynamics. What distinguishes secure spiritual development from anxious dependency or avoidant detachment? And how can communities support growth that strengthens both inner grounding and relational maturity?

Historically, religion has functioned as a source of shared meaning and social cohesion. Emerge Lakefront can be seen as a contemporary, deeply human expression of a similar impulse: to create spaces where depth, reflection, and meaningful connection are cultivated intentionally.

Emerge Lakefront is a residential community of inner development for outer impact. More info: https://emergelakefront.org/

The evening will move between research, dialogue, and open Q&A, inviting a shared inquiry into what mature spirituality and community might look like today.

About Pehr Granqvist

Pehr Granqvist is Professor of Psychology at Stockholm University and one of the leading international scholars in the field of attachment and religion/spirituality. He received his PhD from Uppsala University in 2002 with a dissertation linking attachment theory to religious development. His research spans the lifespan and explores how early relational patterns shape faith, spirituality, and emotion regulation in adolescence and adulthood. He is the author of Attachment in Religion and Spirituality: A Wider View and co-author of The Psychology of Attachment. His work combines rigorous empirical methods with openness to complex existential questions.

Schedule

18:30–19:00 Arrival
19:00–20:15 Fireside Chat & Q&A
20:15–21:00 Mingle

The event will take place in the lounge and co-working space at Emerge Lakefront. Capacity is limited.

We look forward to welcoming you.