With respect to religious changes in Northwestern Europe, it is widely held that experience repla... more With respect to religious changes in Northwestern Europe, it is widely held that experience replaces belief. Very often, such convictions are based on research on so-called inner-life or New Age spirituality. This contribution discusses how protestantism in this region reflects this ‘experiential turn’, by examining the liturgical repertoires of two renewal movements within Protestantism, namely (charismatic) evangelicalism and Christian spirituality. It is shown that, although these repertoires give indeed way to a more experiential religiosity, the belief dimension remains of significance.
Alternative spirituality can be seen as a particular form of religious practice related to proces... more Alternative spirituality can be seen as a particular form of religious practice related to processes of de-traditionalisation and deinstitutionalisation. Although often regarded as a western, secularised phenomenon, such alternative forms of spirituality are becoming increasingly popular among the middle classes worldwide and in the Netherlands in particular. In this article I look at the distinction between institutional religion and spirituality through the lenses of liminality and the liminoid. I argue that religion is becoming a liminoid domain in society and, through an example from Christian spirituality in the Netherlands, I show how, in spirituality, religion itself becomes liminoid, suggesting a subjectivised approach to identity and meaning.
Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the i... more Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the influence of internet communication on interreligious encounters is characterized by a contradiction between the theory of cyber-balkanization on the one hand and the theory of networked religion on the other. However, neither theory is contextualized and neither can therefore explain why an interreligious encounter results in either interreligious conflict or mutual understanding. In this article, a contextualized approach to the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships is advocated. The authors show that contextualization on the level of the openness of the religious group is too one-dimensional. Therefore, a contextual reception model on the level of the situation is developed to explicate the possible attitudinal and behavioral positions within an online interreligious encounter. This model can be used to investigate the implications of internet communic...
Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the i... more Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the influence of internet communication on interreligious encounters is characterized by a contradiction between the theory of cyber-balkanization on the one hand and the theory of networked religion on the other. However, neither theory is contextualized and neither can therefore explain why an interreligious encounter results in either interreligious conflict or mutual understanding. In this article, a contextualized approach to the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships is advocated. The authors show that contextualization on the level of the openness of the religious group is too one-dimensional. Therefore, a contextual reception model on the level of the situation is developed to explicate the possible attitudinal and behavioral positions within an online interreligious encounter. This model can be used to investigate the implications of internet communic...
The ‘turn to experience’ has been described as one of the most defining characteristics of contem... more The ‘turn to experience’ has been described as one of the most defining characteristics of contemporary religion. Research on religion, and in particular on spirituality, therefore increasingly concentrates on the description of its experiential dimensions. The turn to experience, however, asks for something more than just the observation that a particular dimension (experience) has become of greater value for practitioners of religion. Dimensions which have for a long time been central to the social-scientific study of religion, but are avoided in the practitioners’ discourse and, surprisingly, in the social-scientific discourse as well, such as authority and power, turn out to be of lasting significance in the mediation and construction of religious experience. In this contribution, the authors take the social construction of religious experience in contemporary spirituality as a starting point for a reflection and discussion on the methodological challenges of experiential religi...
Two cases in which researchers take part in religious ritual show how being a participant enhance... more Two cases in which researchers take part in religious ritual show how being a participant enhances the researcher’s understanding of what is happening. Through these cases the authors attempt to shed light on the methodological problems concerning the “intersubjectivity” of research on ritual. Ritual goes beyond the verbal and pulls bodily sensations, emotion and gestures into the domain of intersubjectivity established through fieldwork. Experiencing the emotional and physical sensations that accompany ritual give the researcher a clue as to what other participants experience. But maybe more importantly, the participation of the researcher also triggers reflections on the meaning and efficacy of the ritual. These verbalized interpretations of what has happened may further strengthen the researcher’s understanding. The authors argue that it is exactly through putting this intersubjectivity at the centre of both the actual fieldwork and the subsequent analysis that the ever flexible ...
PLAYING RELIGION? EXPERIENCE, MEANING AND THE LUDIC APPROACH Peter Versteeg Introduction One pers... more PLAYING RELIGION? EXPERIENCE, MEANING AND THE LUDIC APPROACH Peter Versteeg Introduction One person's praying is another person's playing. Take, for example, a contem-porary adherent of Wicca who invents her own personal rituals. Many will frown on her for ...
While the study of alternative spirituality in postindustrial secularized societies is growing, r... more While the study of alternative spirituality in postindustrial secularized societies is growing, researchers lack systematic tools to describe and analyze the behavior of adherents. In a qualitative study of yoga practitioners in Germany, a typology was developed for understanding and categorizing the motivations of participants in yoga practice, resulting in the construction of four different types. Subsequently, the authors of this article explore the use of this yoga practice typology for other types of alternative spirituality. It is argued that the typology can be applied to these other forms too, as illustrated with an example of Christian holistic spirituality.
With respect to religious changes in Northwestern Europe, it is widely held that experience repla... more With respect to religious changes in Northwestern Europe, it is widely held that experience replaces belief. Very often, such convictions are based on research on so-called inner-life or New Age spirituality. This contribution discusses how protestantism in this region reflects this ‘experiential turn’, by examining the liturgical repertoires of two renewal movements within Protestantism, namely (charismatic) evangelicalism and Christian spirituality. It is shown that, although these repertoires give indeed way to a more experiential religiosity, the belief dimension remains of significance.
Alternative spirituality can be seen as a particular form of religious practice related to proces... more Alternative spirituality can be seen as a particular form of religious practice related to processes of de-traditionalisation and deinstitutionalisation. Although often regarded as a western, secularised phenomenon, such alternative forms of spirituality are becoming increasingly popular among the middle classes worldwide and in the Netherlands in particular. In this article I look at the distinction between institutional religion and spirituality through the lenses of liminality and the liminoid. I argue that religion is becoming a liminoid domain in society and, through an example from Christian spirituality in the Netherlands, I show how, in spirituality, religion itself becomes liminoid, suggesting a subjectivised approach to identity and meaning.
Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the i... more Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the influence of internet communication on interreligious encounters is characterized by a contradiction between the theory of cyber-balkanization on the one hand and the theory of networked religion on the other. However, neither theory is contextualized and neither can therefore explain why an interreligious encounter results in either interreligious conflict or mutual understanding. In this article, a contextualized approach to the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships is advocated. The authors show that contextualization on the level of the openness of the religious group is too one-dimensional. Therefore, a contextual reception model on the level of the situation is developed to explicate the possible attitudinal and behavioral positions within an online interreligious encounter. This model can be used to investigate the implications of internet communic...
Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the i... more Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the influence of internet communication on interreligious encounters is characterized by a contradiction between the theory of cyber-balkanization on the one hand and the theory of networked religion on the other. However, neither theory is contextualized and neither can therefore explain why an interreligious encounter results in either interreligious conflict or mutual understanding. In this article, a contextualized approach to the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships is advocated. The authors show that contextualization on the level of the openness of the religious group is too one-dimensional. Therefore, a contextual reception model on the level of the situation is developed to explicate the possible attitudinal and behavioral positions within an online interreligious encounter. This model can be used to investigate the implications of internet communic...
The ‘turn to experience’ has been described as one of the most defining characteristics of contem... more The ‘turn to experience’ has been described as one of the most defining characteristics of contemporary religion. Research on religion, and in particular on spirituality, therefore increasingly concentrates on the description of its experiential dimensions. The turn to experience, however, asks for something more than just the observation that a particular dimension (experience) has become of greater value for practitioners of religion. Dimensions which have for a long time been central to the social-scientific study of religion, but are avoided in the practitioners’ discourse and, surprisingly, in the social-scientific discourse as well, such as authority and power, turn out to be of lasting significance in the mediation and construction of religious experience. In this contribution, the authors take the social construction of religious experience in contemporary spirituality as a starting point for a reflection and discussion on the methodological challenges of experiential religi...
Two cases in which researchers take part in religious ritual show how being a participant enhance... more Two cases in which researchers take part in religious ritual show how being a participant enhances the researcher’s understanding of what is happening. Through these cases the authors attempt to shed light on the methodological problems concerning the “intersubjectivity” of research on ritual. Ritual goes beyond the verbal and pulls bodily sensations, emotion and gestures into the domain of intersubjectivity established through fieldwork. Experiencing the emotional and physical sensations that accompany ritual give the researcher a clue as to what other participants experience. But maybe more importantly, the participation of the researcher also triggers reflections on the meaning and efficacy of the ritual. These verbalized interpretations of what has happened may further strengthen the researcher’s understanding. The authors argue that it is exactly through putting this intersubjectivity at the centre of both the actual fieldwork and the subsequent analysis that the ever flexible ...
PLAYING RELIGION? EXPERIENCE, MEANING AND THE LUDIC APPROACH Peter Versteeg Introduction One pers... more PLAYING RELIGION? EXPERIENCE, MEANING AND THE LUDIC APPROACH Peter Versteeg Introduction One person's praying is another person's playing. Take, for example, a contem-porary adherent of Wicca who invents her own personal rituals. Many will frown on her for ...
While the study of alternative spirituality in postindustrial secularized societies is growing, r... more While the study of alternative spirituality in postindustrial secularized societies is growing, researchers lack systematic tools to describe and analyze the behavior of adherents. In a qualitative study of yoga practitioners in Germany, a typology was developed for understanding and categorizing the motivations of participants in yoga practice, resulting in the construction of four different types. Subsequently, the authors of this article explore the use of this yoga practice typology for other types of alternative spirituality. It is argued that the typology can be applied to these other forms too, as illustrated with an example of Christian holistic spirituality.
Dutch evangelicalism has always been institutionally dominated by men, and has always known vario... more Dutch evangelicalism has always been institutionally dominated by men, and has always known various forms of male brotherhoods. However, the past years 'the problem with men' has come to be defined in a particular way, and a whole genre of books has emerged defining and explaining this problem and proposing solutions. The books are part of a broader evangelical men’s movement that focuses on the body and on physical endurance as a test for manhood. Surprisingly, the sources and legitimisations for the essentialising gender ideologies proposed in this movement lean on popularized forms of evolutionary theory and biology, popular culture such as movies and music and spiritual or mythopoetical ideas from books such as Iron John by Robert Bly. We found that the perceived problems of men can be summarized as circulating around three key themes: the absent man, the feminisation of men and the blurring of gender roles. These problematizations furthermore suggest particular remedies that should lead to becoming a ‘real man’.
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