In this unique volume, Adam Powell introduces the identity theory of sociologist Hans Mol and att... more In this unique volume, Adam Powell introduces the identity theory of sociologist Hans Mol and attempts to locate Mol's ideas within the history of the sociology of religion. The second half of the book affords Mol the final word, presenting four previously-unpublished essays from this truly original, and often overlooked, 20th-century thinker. The result is both an introductory text and a critical examination, providing a new generation of scholars with a useful theoretical framework for understanding religious zeal, desecularization, and the human quest for "the sacred."
Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy seeks both to demonstrate the salience of “heresy” ... more Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy seeks both to demonstrate the salience of “heresy” as a tool for analyzing instances of religious conflict far beyond the borders of traditional historical theology and to illuminate the apparent affinity for deification exhibited by some persecuted religious movements. To these ends, the book argues for a sociologically-informed redefinition of heresy as religiously-motivated opposition and applies the resulting concept to the historical cases of second-century Christians and nineteenth-century Mormons. Ultimately, Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy is a careful application of the comparative method to two new religious movements, highlighting the social processes at work in their early doctrinal developments.
Significantly influencing the sociological study of religion, Hans Mol developed ideas of identit... more Significantly influencing the sociological study of religion, Hans Mol developed ideas of identity which remain thought-provoking for analyses of how religion operates within contemporary societies. Sacred Selves, Sacred Settings brings current social-religious topics into sharp focus: international scholars analyse, challenge, and apply Mol’s theoretical assertions. This book introduces the unique story of Hans Mol, who survived Nazi imprisonment and proceeded to brush shoulders with formidable intellectuals of the twentieth century, such as Robert Merton, Talcott Parsons, and Reinhold Niebuhr. Offering a fresh perspective on popular subjects such as secularization, pluralism, and the place of religion in the public sphere, this book sets case studies within an intellectual biography which describes Mol’s key influences and reveals the continuing import of Hans Mol’s work applied to recent data and within a contemporary context.
This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jurgen Moltmann’s experiences ... more This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jurgen Moltmann’s experiences of trauma and suffering during the Second World War had on his subsequent theology of hope, before then explicating how those experiences and that theological system relate to issues of health, well-being, and resilience. Ultimately, it is argued that themes of sociality and self-transcendence link Moltmann’s writings with his experiences and permit him to offer a vision of resilience as a restless discontentment with present circumstances that manifests as ‘the strength to be human’.
Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious ... more Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious studies, these disciplines sometimes have a very important contribution to make. The hearing of spiritually significant voices provides a case in point. The context, content and identity of these voices, all of which have typically not been seen as important in the assessment of auditory–verbal hallucinations (AVHs) within psychiatry, are key to understanding their spiritual significance. A taxonomy of spiritually significant voices is proposed, which takes into account frequency, context, affect and identity of the voice. In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significant voices, most began in adult life and were infrequent experiences. Almost 90% reported that the voice was divine in identity and approximately one-third were heard in the context of prayer. The phenomenological characteristics of these voices were different from those in p...
In this paper, the identity theory of religion outline by sociologist Hans Mol in the 1970s is in... more In this paper, the identity theory of religion outline by sociologist Hans Mol in the 1970s is introduced and located among the various competing theories of the mid-20 th century. Using such comparisons, particularly with enigmatic sociological figures, it is argued that the original consensus that Mol represented yet another neo-functionalist theory of religion is fallacious. Instead, it is suggested that his theoretical framework, whilst ambitious and broad, is something other than functionalism and avoids easy categorisation when viewed from a 21 st -century perspective on the history of ideas.
Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices... more Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices and Spiritualists who report ‘clairaudience’, we have encountered numerous instances of what appeared to be hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences being deemed spiritual by our participants. Taking place at the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, these occurrences involve voices, visions, and tactile phenomena. We note that they also seem to have common characteristics that may distinguish them from other reported spiritual or religious experiences: 1) Clear and external aurality when involving voices, 2) Ambiguous messages or initial meanings, and 3) Later attribution to a supernatural agent.
Implicit religion : journal of the Centre for the Study of Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality, 2017
Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of ... more Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of social science to analyse, describe, and explain the relevance and persistence of religion in the modern world. With the bold predictions of the secularization thesis as their stimuli, many sociologists and anthropologists preferred to focus on the under-explored, marginalized, or otherwise unexpected expressions of religion within those ostensibly secularizing contexts. Such studies have led to an abundance of theories and accompanying terms: "implicit religion," "vernacular religion," "vicarious religion," "lived religion," "popular religion," and "folk religion." Without choosing any one of these, but owing much to their shared-arguably postmodern-themes of commonplace sacrality and personal empowerment, this paper seeks to explore the possibility of the Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) as an example of religion-making. HVM is a...
Journal for the study of religious experience, 2017
Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multi-disciplinary explora... more Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multi-disciplinary exploration of hallucinatory-type phenomena in an attempt to revaluate and reframe discussions of these experiences. As part of this project, contemporaneous religious experiences (supernatural voices and visions) in the United States from the first half of the nineteenth century have been analysed, shedding light on the value and applicability of contemporary bio-cultural models of religious experience for such historical cases. In particular, this essay outlines four historical cases, seeking to utilise and to refine four theoretical models, including anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann's 'absorption hypothesis', by returning to something like William James' concern with 'discordant personalities'. Ultimately, the paper argues that emphasis on the role of identity dissonance must not be omitted from the analytical tools applied to these nineteenth-century examples, and perha...
In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significan... more In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significant voices, most began in adult life and were infrequent experiences. Almost 90% reported that the voice was divine in identity and approximately one third were heard in the context of prayer. The phenomenological characteristics of these voices were different than in previous studies. Most comprised a single voice, half were auditory and a quarter more thought-like (the rest being a mixture). Only half were characterful, and one third included commands or prompts. The voices were experienced positively and as meaningful. Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious studies, the context and content of the voices, as well as their identity, was found to be important to understanding their spiritual significance. A taxonomy of such experiences is proposed which takes into account frequency, context, affect and identity of the voice. The survey has implications for both clinical and pastoral work. The phenomenology of spiritually significant voices is easily confused with that of psychopathology, thus potentially leading to misdiagnosis of normal religious experiences. The finding of meaning in content and context may be important in voice hearing more widely, and especially in coping with negative or distressing voices.
Journal for the Study of Religious Experience, 2020
Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices... more Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices and Spiritualists who report ‘clairaudience’, we have encountered numerous instances of what appeared to be hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences being deemed spiritual by our participants. Taking place at the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, these occurrences involve voices, visions, and tactile phenomena. We note that they also seem to have common characteristics that may distinguish them from other reported spiritual or religious experiences: 1) Clear and external aurality when involving voices, 2) Ambiguous messages or initial meanings, and 3) Later attribution to a supernatural agent.
For mental health researchers and others committed to a bio-cultural understanding of religious e... more For mental health researchers and others committed to a bio-cultural understanding of religious experience, there is a need for empirical studies capable of shedding light on the interplay between beliefs, personalities, and the occurrence of anomalous sensory experiences. Absorption, a trait linked to one’s tendency to become immersed in experience or thought, may be key for understanding that relationship. Spiritualist mediums (N = 65) completed an online questionnaire assessing the timing, nature, and frequency of their auditory (clairaudient) spiritual communications – including scales measuring paranormal beliefs, absorption, hallucination-proneness, and aspects of identity. These measures were compared to a general population group (N = 143), with results showing higher levels of auditory hallucination-proneness and absorption among the Spiritualists as well as correlations between spiritual beliefs and absorption, but not spiritual beliefs and hallucination-proneness, for the general population. Findings are discussed in relation to attribution models of religious experience and the complexity of “absorption” as a construct.
This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jürgen Moltmann’s experiences ... more This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jürgen Moltmann’s experiences of trauma and suffering during the Second World War had on his subsequent theology of hope, before then explicating how those experiences and that theological system relate to issues of health, well-being, and resilience. Ultimately, it is argued that themes of sociality and self-transcendence link Moltmann’s writings with his experiences and permit him to offer a vision of resilience as a restless discontentment with present circumstances that manifests as ‘the strength to be human’.
Voices in Psychosis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (OUP)
Drawing on Mary Douglas’ influential text, Purity and Danger, with its argument about the structu... more Drawing on Mary Douglas’ influential text, Purity and Danger, with its argument about the structures of pollution and purity that inhere in modern cultures, this chapter seeks to address two overlapping understandings of voice-hearing: 1) The emic claim that auditory verbal hallucinations are justified punishments for wrongdoing and 2) An etic suggestion that such an interpretation stems from culturally-embedded notions of identity as egosyntonic, and ritually symbolic, harmony. Using three case studies from the Voices in Psychosis interview data, the essay will explore how Douglas’ explication of ritual purification illuminates the role played by sexual mores, mental health stigma, and theological constructs in the self-understanding of some voice-hearers.
This essay - for The Lancet Psychiatry - argues that the liminal state of consciousness represent... more This essay - for The Lancet Psychiatry - argues that the liminal state of consciousness represented by hypnagogia not only sheds light on the hallucinoid phenomena seemingly accompanying many 19th-century religious experiences but also intimates a solution to the confusion over the language used to describe those experiences. The latter typically includes some combination of 'dream' and 'vision', which scholars have tended to view as interchangeable. However, recent studies of hypnagogia demonstrate that it is strikingly similar to those religious experiences and is literally halfway between a sleeping dream and a waking vision. Unaware of such a third option, those experiencing supernatural encounters in the past used the only categories of consciousness ('dream' and 'vision') available to them to make sense of these extraordinary events.
In this unique volume, Adam Powell introduces the identity theory of sociologist Hans Mol and att... more In this unique volume, Adam Powell introduces the identity theory of sociologist Hans Mol and attempts to locate Mol's ideas within the history of the sociology of religion. The second half of the book affords Mol the final word, presenting four previously-unpublished essays from this truly original, and often overlooked, 20th-century thinker. The result is both an introductory text and a critical examination, providing a new generation of scholars with a useful theoretical framework for understanding religious zeal, desecularization, and the human quest for "the sacred."
Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy seeks both to demonstrate the salience of “heresy” ... more Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy seeks both to demonstrate the salience of “heresy” as a tool for analyzing instances of religious conflict far beyond the borders of traditional historical theology and to illuminate the apparent affinity for deification exhibited by some persecuted religious movements. To these ends, the book argues for a sociologically-informed redefinition of heresy as religiously-motivated opposition and applies the resulting concept to the historical cases of second-century Christians and nineteenth-century Mormons. Ultimately, Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy is a careful application of the comparative method to two new religious movements, highlighting the social processes at work in their early doctrinal developments.
Significantly influencing the sociological study of religion, Hans Mol developed ideas of identit... more Significantly influencing the sociological study of religion, Hans Mol developed ideas of identity which remain thought-provoking for analyses of how religion operates within contemporary societies. Sacred Selves, Sacred Settings brings current social-religious topics into sharp focus: international scholars analyse, challenge, and apply Mol’s theoretical assertions. This book introduces the unique story of Hans Mol, who survived Nazi imprisonment and proceeded to brush shoulders with formidable intellectuals of the twentieth century, such as Robert Merton, Talcott Parsons, and Reinhold Niebuhr. Offering a fresh perspective on popular subjects such as secularization, pluralism, and the place of religion in the public sphere, this book sets case studies within an intellectual biography which describes Mol’s key influences and reveals the continuing import of Hans Mol’s work applied to recent data and within a contemporary context.
This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jurgen Moltmann’s experiences ... more This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jurgen Moltmann’s experiences of trauma and suffering during the Second World War had on his subsequent theology of hope, before then explicating how those experiences and that theological system relate to issues of health, well-being, and resilience. Ultimately, it is argued that themes of sociality and self-transcendence link Moltmann’s writings with his experiences and permit him to offer a vision of resilience as a restless discontentment with present circumstances that manifests as ‘the strength to be human’.
Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious ... more Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious studies, these disciplines sometimes have a very important contribution to make. The hearing of spiritually significant voices provides a case in point. The context, content and identity of these voices, all of which have typically not been seen as important in the assessment of auditory–verbal hallucinations (AVHs) within psychiatry, are key to understanding their spiritual significance. A taxonomy of spiritually significant voices is proposed, which takes into account frequency, context, affect and identity of the voice. In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significant voices, most began in adult life and were infrequent experiences. Almost 90% reported that the voice was divine in identity and approximately one-third were heard in the context of prayer. The phenomenological characteristics of these voices were different from those in p...
In this paper, the identity theory of religion outline by sociologist Hans Mol in the 1970s is in... more In this paper, the identity theory of religion outline by sociologist Hans Mol in the 1970s is introduced and located among the various competing theories of the mid-20 th century. Using such comparisons, particularly with enigmatic sociological figures, it is argued that the original consensus that Mol represented yet another neo-functionalist theory of religion is fallacious. Instead, it is suggested that his theoretical framework, whilst ambitious and broad, is something other than functionalism and avoids easy categorisation when viewed from a 21 st -century perspective on the history of ideas.
Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices... more Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices and Spiritualists who report ‘clairaudience’, we have encountered numerous instances of what appeared to be hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences being deemed spiritual by our participants. Taking place at the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, these occurrences involve voices, visions, and tactile phenomena. We note that they also seem to have common characteristics that may distinguish them from other reported spiritual or religious experiences: 1) Clear and external aurality when involving voices, 2) Ambiguous messages or initial meanings, and 3) Later attribution to a supernatural agent.
Implicit religion : journal of the Centre for the Study of Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality, 2017
Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of ... more Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of social science to analyse, describe, and explain the relevance and persistence of religion in the modern world. With the bold predictions of the secularization thesis as their stimuli, many sociologists and anthropologists preferred to focus on the under-explored, marginalized, or otherwise unexpected expressions of religion within those ostensibly secularizing contexts. Such studies have led to an abundance of theories and accompanying terms: "implicit religion," "vernacular religion," "vicarious religion," "lived religion," "popular religion," and "folk religion." Without choosing any one of these, but owing much to their shared-arguably postmodern-themes of commonplace sacrality and personal empowerment, this paper seeks to explore the possibility of the Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) as an example of religion-making. HVM is a...
Journal for the study of religious experience, 2017
Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multi-disciplinary explora... more Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multi-disciplinary exploration of hallucinatory-type phenomena in an attempt to revaluate and reframe discussions of these experiences. As part of this project, contemporaneous religious experiences (supernatural voices and visions) in the United States from the first half of the nineteenth century have been analysed, shedding light on the value and applicability of contemporary bio-cultural models of religious experience for such historical cases. In particular, this essay outlines four historical cases, seeking to utilise and to refine four theoretical models, including anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann's 'absorption hypothesis', by returning to something like William James' concern with 'discordant personalities'. Ultimately, the paper argues that emphasis on the role of identity dissonance must not be omitted from the analytical tools applied to these nineteenth-century examples, and perha...
In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significan... more In a predominantly Christian sample of 58 people who reported having heard spiritually significant voices, most began in adult life and were infrequent experiences. Almost 90% reported that the voice was divine in identity and approximately one third were heard in the context of prayer. The phenomenological characteristics of these voices were different than in previous studies. Most comprised a single voice, half were auditory and a quarter more thought-like (the rest being a mixture). Only half were characterful, and one third included commands or prompts. The voices were experienced positively and as meaningful. Whereas previous research in the medical humanities has tended to neglect theology and religious studies, the context and content of the voices, as well as their identity, was found to be important to understanding their spiritual significance. A taxonomy of such experiences is proposed which takes into account frequency, context, affect and identity of the voice. The survey has implications for both clinical and pastoral work. The phenomenology of spiritually significant voices is easily confused with that of psychopathology, thus potentially leading to misdiagnosis of normal religious experiences. The finding of meaning in content and context may be important in voice hearing more widely, and especially in coping with negative or distressing voices.
Journal for the Study of Religious Experience, 2020
Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices... more Whilst conducting qualitative studies with both Christians who report hearing supernatural voices and Spiritualists who report ‘clairaudience’, we have encountered numerous instances of what appeared to be hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences being deemed spiritual by our participants. Taking place at the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, these occurrences involve voices, visions, and tactile phenomena. We note that they also seem to have common characteristics that may distinguish them from other reported spiritual or religious experiences: 1) Clear and external aurality when involving voices, 2) Ambiguous messages or initial meanings, and 3) Later attribution to a supernatural agent.
For mental health researchers and others committed to a bio-cultural understanding of religious e... more For mental health researchers and others committed to a bio-cultural understanding of religious experience, there is a need for empirical studies capable of shedding light on the interplay between beliefs, personalities, and the occurrence of anomalous sensory experiences. Absorption, a trait linked to one’s tendency to become immersed in experience or thought, may be key for understanding that relationship. Spiritualist mediums (N = 65) completed an online questionnaire assessing the timing, nature, and frequency of their auditory (clairaudient) spiritual communications – including scales measuring paranormal beliefs, absorption, hallucination-proneness, and aspects of identity. These measures were compared to a general population group (N = 143), with results showing higher levels of auditory hallucination-proneness and absorption among the Spiritualists as well as correlations between spiritual beliefs and absorption, but not spiritual beliefs and hallucination-proneness, for the general population. Findings are discussed in relation to attribution models of religious experience and the complexity of “absorption” as a construct.
This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jürgen Moltmann’s experiences ... more This chapter seeks to identify the particular influence theologian Jürgen Moltmann’s experiences of trauma and suffering during the Second World War had on his subsequent theology of hope, before then explicating how those experiences and that theological system relate to issues of health, well-being, and resilience. Ultimately, it is argued that themes of sociality and self-transcendence link Moltmann’s writings with his experiences and permit him to offer a vision of resilience as a restless discontentment with present circumstances that manifests as ‘the strength to be human’.
Voices in Psychosis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (OUP)
Drawing on Mary Douglas’ influential text, Purity and Danger, with its argument about the structu... more Drawing on Mary Douglas’ influential text, Purity and Danger, with its argument about the structures of pollution and purity that inhere in modern cultures, this chapter seeks to address two overlapping understandings of voice-hearing: 1) The emic claim that auditory verbal hallucinations are justified punishments for wrongdoing and 2) An etic suggestion that such an interpretation stems from culturally-embedded notions of identity as egosyntonic, and ritually symbolic, harmony. Using three case studies from the Voices in Psychosis interview data, the essay will explore how Douglas’ explication of ritual purification illuminates the role played by sexual mores, mental health stigma, and theological constructs in the self-understanding of some voice-hearers.
This essay - for The Lancet Psychiatry - argues that the liminal state of consciousness represent... more This essay - for The Lancet Psychiatry - argues that the liminal state of consciousness represented by hypnagogia not only sheds light on the hallucinoid phenomena seemingly accompanying many 19th-century religious experiences but also intimates a solution to the confusion over the language used to describe those experiences. The latter typically includes some combination of 'dream' and 'vision', which scholars have tended to view as interchangeable. However, recent studies of hypnagogia demonstrate that it is strikingly similar to those religious experiences and is literally halfway between a sleeping dream and a waking vision. Unaware of such a third option, those experiencing supernatural encounters in the past used the only categories of consciousness ('dream' and 'vision') available to them to make sense of these extraordinary events.
This paper is a cross-disciplinary look at the wartime experiences and subsequent theories of the... more This paper is a cross-disciplinary look at the wartime experiences and subsequent theories of the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, the theologian Jürgen Moltmann, and the sociologist Hans Mol. Each of these influential figures experienced imprisonment during the Second World War, and each went on to develop discipline-specific ideas about meaning-making, hope, and identity, respectively. Although their theories were distinct, and indeed aimed at different audiences, they overlapped in suggesting that the sources of human hope and meaningful identity came from beyond the self. These sources may include, for example, the love of/from another person or the objectified rituals and beliefs of a particular religion. Either way, for these three thinkers, the motivation to survive and the potential to flourish were not found in personal narrative but in something more transcendental. This cut against much western philosophy built on the sovereignty of the individual. What is more, this paper seeks to show that this similarity came, in part, from their first-hand encounters with the atrocities of war - devastating the individual both physically and psychologically. After drawing out the possible connections between their experiences and their academic contributions, the paper concludes with suggestions about what this may offer more contemporary discussions of human well-being within the medical humanities, psychiatry, et cetera which increasingly emphasise the mental and physical value of individual narrative construction.
Journal for the Study of Religious Experience, 2017
Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multidisciplinary exploration of hallu... more Durham University's 'Hearing the Voice' project involves a multidisciplinary exploration of hallucinatory-type phenomena in an attempt to revaluate and reframe discussions of these experiences. As part of this project, contemporaneous religious experiences (supernatural voices and visions) in the United States from the first half of the nineteenth century have been analysed, shedding light on the value and applicability of contemporary bio-cultural models of religious experience for such historical cases. In particular, this essay outlines four historical cases, seeking to utilise and to refine four theoretical models, including anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann's 'absorption hypothesis', by returning to something like William James' concern with 'discordant personalities'. Ultimately, the paper argues that emphasis on the role of identity dissonance must not be omitted from the analytical tools applied to these nineteenth-century examples, and perhaps should be retained for any study of religious experience generally.
Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of ... more Over the past 40 or 50 years, scholars of religion have frequently attempted to use the tools of social science to analyse, describe, and explain the relevance and persistence of religion in the modern world. With the bold predictions of the secularization thesis as their stimuli, many sociologists and anthropologists preferred to focus on the underexplored, marginalised, or otherwise unexpected expressions of religion within those ostensibly secularising contexts. Such studies have led to an abundance of theories and accompanying terms: ‘implicit religion’, ‘vernacular religion’, ‘vicarious religion’, ‘lived religion’, ‘popular religion’, and ‘folk religion’. Without choosing any one of these, but owing much to their shared – arguably postmodern – themes of commonplace sacrality and personal empowerment, this paper seeks to explore the possibility of the Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) as an example of religion-making. HVM is a growing force of ‘voice-hearers’ from at least 28 countries who have formed user-led networks for activism and mental health recovery. More importantly, it is argued that HVM blends meaning-making, postmodern notions of identity in relation to power structures, and ritual embodiment, resulting in a striking example of sociologist Hans Mol’s notion of religion as a sacralising process.
“Magic underwear,” a common reference to the temple garments of Mormonism, is an undeniably intri... more “Magic underwear,” a common reference to the temple garments of Mormonism, is an undeniably intriguing and provocative notion. These vestments may not exhibit magical abilities, but they do reveal something of the process whereby religious identity receives reinforcement and protection through the stabilizing effects of material symbols. Such symbols are often described as “boundaries” or “boundary markers.” In the case of LDS ritual clothing, however, identity is reinforced in relation to the collective; the garments communicate between insiders. These garments, then, display all of the hallmarks of the identity theory adumbrated by Hans Mol. Mol suggested that identity is the stable half of a stability/adaptability dialectic, and religion is the sacralization of that identity. This paper explores Mormon temple garments as symbolic, stabilizing mechanisms; the efficacy of which is to be found in their capacity to anchor emotions, behaviors, and (ultimately) identity in social “covenants.” This social cohesion is bolstered by the immutability of the temple garment as an identity symbol. Thus, it is argued that Mol’s concept of religious identity illuminates at least one attribute of Mormon ritual dress – namely, its identity-conferring potential. Hidden beneath conventional clothing, these garments serve less as boundary markers and more as signifiers of conformity to a social ideal.
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