Situating Spirituality
Context, Practice, and Power
Published on 25. May 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
376 pages
978-0-19-756501-8 (ISBN)
Description
Spirituality is in the spotlight. While levels of religious belief and observance are declining in much of the Western world, the number of people who identify as "spiritual but not religious" is on the rise. Practices such as yoga, meditation, and pilgrimage are surging in popularity. "Wellness" regimes offer practitioners a lexicon of spirituality and an array of spiritual experiences. Commentators talk of a new spiritual awakening "after religion." And global mobility is generating hybrid practices that blur the lines between religion and spirituality.
The essays collected in Situating Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power examine not only individual engagements with spirituality, but they show how seemingly personal facets of spirituality, as well as definitions of spirituality itself, are deeply shaped by religious, cultural, and political contexts. The volume is explicitly cross-national and comparative. The contributors are leading scholars of major global regions: North America, Central America, East Asia, South Asia, Africa and the African Diaspora, Western Europe, and the Middle East. They study not only Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, but also non-Abrahamic societies with native as well as transnational sacred traditions.
The essays collected in Situating Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power examine not only individual engagements with spirituality, but they show how seemingly personal facets of spirituality, as well as definitions of spirituality itself, are deeply shaped by religious, cultural, and political contexts. The volume is explicitly cross-national and comparative. The contributors are leading scholars of major global regions: North America, Central America, East Asia, South Asia, Africa and the African Diaspora, Western Europe, and the Middle East. They study not only Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, but also non-Abrahamic societies with native as well as transnational sacred traditions.
Reviews / Votes
Situating Spirituality successfully, and imaginatively, captures the full breadth of scholarship on spirituality, in all its manifest diversity, making it a critical contribution to this burgeoning, if messy, field. * Galen Watts, Centre for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Journal of the American Academy of Religion * The volume will be important for scholars interested in the idea that everything can be spiritual. * R. T. Cragun, The University of Tampa, CHOICE *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-756501-8 (9780197565018)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2022
Oxford University Press Inc
€155.70
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
11/2021
OUP eBook
€19.99
Available for download
E-Book
11/2021
OUP eBook
€19.99
Available for download
Persons
Brian Steensland is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He is the author of The Failed Welfare Revolution: America's Struggle Over Guaranteed Income and co-editor of The New Evangelical Social Engagement.
Jaime Kucinskas is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Hamilton College. She is the author of The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the Inside Out (Oxford, 2019).
Anna Sun is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University. She is the author of Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities.
Jaime Kucinskas is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Hamilton College. She is the author of The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the Inside Out (Oxford, 2019).
Anna Sun is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University. She is the author of Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities.
Editor
Professor and Chair of SociologyProfessor and Chair of Sociology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of SociologyAssociate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Hamilton College
Associate Professor of Religious StudiesAssociate Professor of Religious Studies, Duke University
Content
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction
Eminently Social Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power
Brian Steensland, Jaime Kucinskas, Anna Sun
Part One: Context
1. Social Practices and Cultural Contexts: Framework for the Study of Spirituality
Nancy Ammerman
2. The Gods of Modern Spirituality
Linda Woodhead
3. Fearful Asymmetry: Rethinking the Boundaries between Religion and Spirituality
Anna Sun
4. Trumping the Devil! Engendering the Spirituality of the Marketplace within Africa and the African Diaspora
Afe Adogame
5. Methodological Innovations for the Study of Spirituality
Bradley Wright
6. Shifts in Spiritual and Religious Self-Perceptions in the First Year of College
Alyssa N. Rochenbach
7. Spirituality among African Americans: Inter-Racial and Intra-Racial Differences across Followers of Various Religious Traditions
Jason Shelton
Part Two: Practice
8. The Micro-interactive Order of Spirituality
Michael Pagis
9. Ecstasies: Or, the Limitations of Vanilla Spirituality Studies
Melissa Wilcox
10. Textures of Spirituality in Rural Malawi
Ann Swidler
11. Gifts, Weapons, and Values: The Language of Spirituality in 21st Century Central America
Robert Brenneman
Part Three: Power
12. Everything is Connected: Relocating Spiritual Power from Nature to Society
Stef Aupers
13. Yoga Spirituality in the Context of U.S. Institutions
Candy Gunther Brown
14. Training Spiritual Caregivers: Spirituality in Chaplaincy Programs in Theological Education
Wendy Cage, Beth Stroud, Patrick K. Palmer, George Fitchett, Trace Haythorne, Casey Clevenger
15. Spirituality and Islam: Sufism in Indonesia
Rachel Rinaldo
16. The Transmission of Spirituality in Broader Landscapes of Power
Jaime Kucinskas
Conclusion
17. Three Questions About Spirituality: Its Meaning, Influence, and Future
Brian Steensland
Index
Contributors
Introduction
Eminently Social Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power
Brian Steensland, Jaime Kucinskas, Anna Sun
Part One: Context
1. Social Practices and Cultural Contexts: Framework for the Study of Spirituality
Nancy Ammerman
2. The Gods of Modern Spirituality
Linda Woodhead
3. Fearful Asymmetry: Rethinking the Boundaries between Religion and Spirituality
Anna Sun
4. Trumping the Devil! Engendering the Spirituality of the Marketplace within Africa and the African Diaspora
Afe Adogame
5. Methodological Innovations for the Study of Spirituality
Bradley Wright
6. Shifts in Spiritual and Religious Self-Perceptions in the First Year of College
Alyssa N. Rochenbach
7. Spirituality among African Americans: Inter-Racial and Intra-Racial Differences across Followers of Various Religious Traditions
Jason Shelton
Part Two: Practice
8. The Micro-interactive Order of Spirituality
Michael Pagis
9. Ecstasies: Or, the Limitations of Vanilla Spirituality Studies
Melissa Wilcox
10. Textures of Spirituality in Rural Malawi
Ann Swidler
11. Gifts, Weapons, and Values: The Language of Spirituality in 21st Century Central America
Robert Brenneman
Part Three: Power
12. Everything is Connected: Relocating Spiritual Power from Nature to Society
Stef Aupers
13. Yoga Spirituality in the Context of U.S. Institutions
Candy Gunther Brown
14. Training Spiritual Caregivers: Spirituality in Chaplaincy Programs in Theological Education
Wendy Cage, Beth Stroud, Patrick K. Palmer, George Fitchett, Trace Haythorne, Casey Clevenger
15. Spirituality and Islam: Sufism in Indonesia
Rachel Rinaldo
16. The Transmission of Spirituality in Broader Landscapes of Power
Jaime Kucinskas
Conclusion
17. Three Questions About Spirituality: Its Meaning, Influence, and Future
Brian Steensland
Index