Religious individualisation in historical perspective

Abstract

This article introduces a special issue of Religion which proposes a new, historical and comparative engagement with processes of religious individualisation. Building on the critique of theories of modernisation the proposition is to trace the variety of forms of individualisation as found in various world regions during different time periods. Together with a particular orientation for the study of religion this represents a shift in social theorising. It puts the experiences and activities of individuals centre stage and foregrounds situation, context and contingency. Accentuating interactional and micro-social dimensions, however, does not mean excluding macro- and long-term perspectives. At the centre of attention are constellations in which the individual personality becomes a defining feature for at least certain sections of society. In addition, the approach allows the capturing of paradoxical constellations. In order to secure individuality, individualisation is turned into a norm or even becomes stereotyped. Our approach allows us to address such trends that counter and sometimes block and reverse individualising developments. The special issue of Religion presents examples of a complex research arena that is still evolving. Besides two conceptual papers the special edition covers examples from various phases of Indian and European religious history as well as from the modern period in both regions.     

Processes of religious individualisation: stocktaking and issues for the future

Abstract

The paper spells out implications of a perspective on religious individualisation that is both comparative and analytical and discusses the various issues that this line of research has to confront. Arguing against notions of modern Western exceptionalism, it points to the selectivity of Western forms of (religious) individualisation and makes a case for the inclusion of additional forms of articulating individual agency and ‘selfhood'. The paper takes individualisation as an inter-subjective, social phenomenon and connects it to the concept of social imaginaries. Opposing standard concepts of modernisation the paper nevertheless brings processuality centre stage, emphasising contingency. The paper discusses the possibility of the convergence of contextual developmental trends and the question of transculturality of notions of self and agency. With reference to the dimension of critique included in visions of religious individualisation, the paper finally points to the effects processes of religious individualisation can have on human actors within, and beyond, the realm of spirituality, including the recognition of subjectivities and the strengthening of actors’ resilience.     

Between individualisation and tradition: transforming religious authority on German and Polish Christian online discussion forums

The aim of this paper is to connect the debates on individualisation and mediatisation of religion and transformations of religious authority online on theoretical and empirical basis. The classical and contemporary concepts of individualisation of religion, rooted in the secularisation debate, will be connected with Campbell’s [2007. “Who’s Got the Power? Religious Authority and the Internet.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12 (3): 1043–1062] concept of four layers of religious authority online. The empirical material consists of a joint analysis of German Christian and Polish Catholic Internet forums. In a transnational comparison, the findings show similar tendencies of individualisation and emerging communities of choice, as well as a lasting significance of textual religious authorities, although different levels of authority are negotiated and emphasised to a varying extent. However, in both cases critique of the Church and religion usually emerges offline, and is then expressed online. While the forums do not have a subversive potential, they facilitate adopting a more independent, informed, and reflexive approach to religion.     

Religious competence and individuality: three studies in the Roman Empire

Abstract

The theme of individuality and individualisation in religious contexts in the fairly remote past is perhaps best viewed as a heuristic device whose main value, at least in the context of Graeco-Roman history, is to question the excessive dominance of a model of religious action as essentially collective, which is perhaps proximately Durkheimian but in the Classical field goes back ultimately to early scholarship on ancient Judaism. Terminology is a basic problem in this context. Religious individuality can be defined as the construction of personal religious achievement or the practice of mastery defined by sui generis rules. In the case of the Roman Empire, five types of such achievement have been suggested: pragmatic; moral; competitive; representative; or exemplary/ reflexive. All these distinguishable types of individuality are linked, at least indirectly, to the complex and highly differentiated social, political, economic and moral structures of the Empire. Specifically religious individuation emerges only with the development of religion as a distinctive field of (social) action and thus the possibility of specifically religious distinction. If sustained over the long term, any such achievement is to be seen as individualisation under ancient conditions. This article briefly explores three types of religious distinction based on a conviction and lived practice of such individualised competence: the figure of the Weberian mystagogue in his Mediterranean forms; the figure of the practitioner skilled in Graeco-Egyptian ‘magic’; and the idealised figure of Pythagoras as projected by Iamblichus’ On the Pythagorean life (c.300 CE).     

History,Theory, and Ideology

This review article argues that the critique of contemporary discourses about religious self-improvement offered by Craig Martin cannot bear the claim that the notion of individual religion must be dropped. On the one hand, comparable phenomena are not restricted to a Western present, and, on the other, they do not disprove the utility of heuristic terms like religion or individualisation. However, a religious semantic of entrepreneurship might be a phenomenon well worth further research.     

Religious Congregations as Mediating Structures for Social Justice: a Multilevel Examination

Scholars in the field of community psychology have called for a closer examination of the mediating role that religious congregations serve in society, especially in relation to the promotion of social justice. The current study provides such an examination, offering a multilevel examination of religious individuals (n = 5,123) nested within religious congregations (n = 62) with a particular focus on how individual and congregational level variables (i.e. theological orientation, frequency of religious attendance, bonding and bridging social capital) predict individual prioritization of and participation in congregational social justice activities. Findings indicated that individual level theological orientation was associated with prioritization, and demographics and social capital bonding were associated with prioritization and participation. Furthermore, congregational bridging social capital was associated with the prioritization of justice, whereas congregational theological orientation moderated the associations between frequency of religious participation for both prioritization of and participation in congregational justice activities. These findings show that specific aspects of the congregational setting (i.e., congregational theological orientation) are important to the individual prioritization of and participation in social justice activities. These findings provide support for the role of religious congregations as mediating structures for social justice. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

The Academic Advantage of Devotion: Measuring Variation in the Value of Weekly Worship in Late Adolescence on Educational Attainment Using Propensity Score Matching

This study measures the effect of regular worship attendance at age 17 on total years of schooling by age 25, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Expanding on previous work, this study estimates differences in the impact of worship attendance by race and family income status using propensity score matching. Individuals who frequently attend religious services complete .69 more years of schooling than similar individuals who do not frequently attend services. There are significantly greater returns to attendance for low‐income youth and no significant difference in returns by religious affiliation. These findings suggest that religious observance provides greater benefits for low‐income individuals or perhaps provides resources high‐income individuals have access to elsewhere. Moreover, this study extends previous work by examining a more recent and nationally representative sample of youth and by using methods that allow for greater causal inference.     

Religious Ego Identity and Its Relationship to Faith Maturity

The relationship between religious ego identity and religious faith maturity was investigated among college students (M age % 19.8 years) using J. E. Marcia's (1966) religious ego status classification system, which is based on the presence or absence in an individual of an exploration of religious values or beliefs and commitment to them; the system also contains a measure of religious faith maturity. Results showed that individuals with a diffusion status (no exploration, no commitment) were less mature in religious faith than those with a foreclosure status (no exploration, commitment), a moratorium status (exploration, no commitment), or those classified as achieved (exploration, commitment). Compared with individuals classified as foreclosed, achieved individuals integrated more effectively the religious faith maturity dimension of service to humanity and community as well as service of self to a transcendent reality.     

Leaving the Church Behind: Applying a Deconversion Perspective to Evangelical Exit Narratives

The motivating factors and structural processes of religious exits have been important inquiries in the sociology of religion and are increasingly important to the field of non-religious studies. Based on qualitative research with 20 former post-Boomer Evangelical Christians, this article takes a phenomenological–hermeneutical approach to understanding religious exiting by examining narratives of deconversion. The narrative data presented in this article depict Evangelical exits from a deconversion perspective where exiters emphasize breaking away from the constraints of hegemonic Christianity rather than turning to secularity. The findings suggest that framing the intentional rejection of faith as ‘deconversion’ transforms exit narratives into a necessary cultural repertoire that encourages individuals to challenge religious domination and makes finding acceptance and validation easier in an established community of non-believers. By emphasizing the negative impact of religion, even after non-religious worldviews have been adopted, deconverts come to know who they currently are in the light of who they once were.     

“Tell Me Who Your Enemies Are”: Government Reports About the “Cult” Phenomenon in Israel

Between 1982 and 2011, four Israeli governmental reports addressing ostensible dangers from “cults” (new religious movements, or NRMs) were issued. The 1980s reports use a collectivist discourse, in which the state sees itself as defending the collective's borders from external threats and representing various sectors while seeking consensual values. The 1990s report marks an interim stage in which the state tries to balance individual liberties with sectoral interests. The 2011 report focuses solely on harm to individuals and is the harshest of the four. The reports reflect milestones in three processes of change that have taken place in Israeli society: from a collectivist‐hegemonic ethos to a multisectoral one; from a focus upon society to a focus on the individual; and from nationalistic values to universalistic ones. At every point in time, NRMs represented a different perceived threat to Israeli society. We explain how multisectoralism brings about both tolerance toward new religious phenomena and fierce anti‐cultic activity.     

Aging as a Scientific and Value-Laden Field of Inquiry

Old age, death, and the nature of aging processes have been subjects of speculation throughout history. People have continously sought to provide explanations regarding the phenomenon of growing older and the eventuality of death. Early cultural and religious beliefs regarding longevity served to alleviate some of the anxieties about aging. Then, a scientific shift advocated a focus on improving conditions of later life. Mobilized research efforts have generated numerous views on aging including the ability of the individual to adapt and the importance of maximizing the functioning of individuals in order to improve life in the later years. An important challenge which may best be broached by religious institutions thus calls upon churches to help individuals set goals which will enhance aging by enabling individuals to find meanings (metaphors) that facilitate the process of adapting to aging.     

Identification with Religion: Cross‐National Evidence from a Social Psychological Perspective

Why is religion a more central social identity for some people than for others? Previous studies focus on explaining individual differences in religious affiliation and religiosity, often using the term “identification” in reference to these concepts. Yet, few scholars operationalize—let alone attempt to explain—identification with religion in social psychological terms, i.e., as a construct that captures the subjective psychological centrality of one's religious identity. After underscoring the benefits of exploring religious identification using cross‐national data, we employ an original data set composed of nationally representative surveys in three European countries to model religious identification in two ways: importance (independent strength of attachment) and prominence (prioritization of one's religious identity relative to the others one holds). We document substantial variation in the degree to which individuals define themselves on the basis of their religious identity. We then test predictions drawn from existing theories to model these two measures. Our results extend current understandings of what shapes psychological attachment to religion and raise new questions for future theorization and analysis.     

Ethical and Religious Aspects of Gamete and Embryo Donation and Legislation in Iran

During recent decades, new assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have improved significantly, but their ethical, social, psychological, religious and legal aspects are blurred and need further research. New techniques using donor sperm or egg allow for third party involvement in the procreation process, which has created new hope for infertile couples. The corresponding clinical applications also raise new religious questions, which require appropriate interpretation in order to make their use possible, particularly in religious communities. In this paper, we discuss the most important ethical issues and the Islamic view of third party reproduction. Likewise, the current method of third party reproduction in Iran will be described, and the advantages and disadvantages of the Act of Embryo Donation to Infertile Spouses will be stated. Consideration of this outlook could generate inspiration in many Islamic countries.     

RELIGION IS EASY,BUT SCIENCE IS HARD … UNDERSTANDING McCAULEY'S THESIS

Robert N. McCauley's new book Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not (2011) presents a new paradigm for investigating the relationship between science and religion by exploring the cognitive foundations of religious belief and scientific knowledge. McCauley's contention is that many of the differences and disagreements regarding religion and science are the product of distinct features of human cognition that process these two domains of knowledge very differently. McCauley's thesis provides valuable insights into this relationship while not necessarily leading to a dismissive view of theology or religious belief. His paradigm allows the research lens to focus on cognitive differences in processing scientific versus religious information and the important role of automatic, unconscious, and intuitive cognitive processes in understanding both the natural and supernatural worlds.     

Using reflective practice to explore the origins and consequences of cultural and faith perspectives

The intention of the symposium is to allow individual voices to speak for themselves and to display their unmediated autobiographical narratives, albeit within a theoretical framework suggested by Part 2 of the Editorial. However, this snowball sample has thrown up some commonalties. So, the third and final part of the Editorial will attempt to point out some of these similarities. From a variety of viewpoints and positions and expressed in different styles of autobiographical narratives, the voices record a sophisticated awareness of the religious traditions discussed; a questioning of substance and loyalty that in one case resulted in a moving from one faith to another; and a display of religious and social values that travel with the individual to be tried and tested in a number of demanding contexts. Impotantly, it would seem that the individuals themselves selected what they would use in the formation of their own personal and professional identities.     

Minority religions,litigation, and the prevention of harm

Religious anti-discrimination legislation institutionalises non-violent ways of living with radical difference associated with religious diversity. The need to govern the growing number of conflicts generated by increasingly pluralistic societies is a major reason governments have introduced a range of new laws relating to religion. These laws are important not only because they protect human rights, which they do, but also because they shape social processes that generate extreme harms such as mass murder and the sexual abuse of minors. A detailed examination of three case studies of minority religions illustrates this argument. The histories of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and The Family demonstrate that the socio-cultural processes that result in sexual abuse in minority religions are similar to the processes that result in extreme violence and that litigation plays a key role in preventing the escalation of these processes, although it is of a post hoc nature. The case of the Ordo Templi Orientis demonstrates that religious anti-discrimination legislation proactively disrupts the socio-cultural processes that lead to the escalation of tension that results in serious forms of harm.     

In Concert and Alone: Divorce and Congregational Experience

Sociologists have paid little attention to the experience of divorce in religious congregations. Numerous quantitative studies suggest that religion can provide health and wellness during such life disruptions, but we know little about the social and individual processes that might foster these benefits. I address this gap in the literature drawing from data collected in a four‐year ethnographic study of divorce and ending life partnerships across six religious traditions. I analyze the experiences of 41 individuals who ended life partnerships while active in their congregations. Despite intense points of communal connection through ritual, respondents named largely private strategies for settling heightened emotion, physical and psychological pain, and creating a new self. Permeating their communal experiences was a marked sense of aloneness, resulting from individual shame and congregational silence, as well as their understanding of divorce‐work as ultimately private self‐work.     

Religious Right,Religious Left,Both, or Neither? Understanding Religio‐Political Identification

In this article we analyze the effects of religious, political, socioeconomic, and demographic variables on religious Americans’ propensity to identify with religio‐political movements. Using data from the 2013 Economic Values Survey collected by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), we sort nonsecular Americans into four categories: religious right, religious left, both religious right and religious left, or neither religious right nor the religious left. We estimate a multinomial logit model in which we depict religio‐political identification as a function of religious affiliation, worship attendance, religious embeddedness, religious convictions, political attitudes, and socioeconomic and demographic controls. We find that a wide range of religious, political, and socioeconomic/demographic variables affect individuals’ identification with the religious right and/or religious left. Our empirical results also permit us to analyze the seeming paradox of identifying with both the religious right and the religious left. We find that individuals who identify with both movements come from the ranks of the highly religious, those who believe that being moral requires one to believe in God, Tea Party supporters, strong partisans, those with lower education and income, older individuals, and blacks and Hispanics.     

Clericalism,Religious Duress and its Psychological Impact on Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse

Religious duress is a unique kind of threat and constraint involuntarily experienced by some members of the Roman Catholic Church as a result of religious indoctrination and training. Fear, awe and respect for the clergy foster the development and actualization of religious duress. This phenomenon can seriously impede a person’s capacity to accurately perceive and evaluate abusive actions perpetrated on them by clergy. This constraint poses an impediment to emotional and spiritual development. Internalized religious duress confuses and psychologically overwhelms such individuals and renders them incapable of absorbing their sexual trauma. The consequent feelings of numbness and immobility distort the perception of reality. It then becomes impossible for the individual to act in a manner that would protect and promote emotional growth and spiritual well being.