This fascinating collection makes a powerful case for contemporary spirituality as a new religious movement. <i>The Shape of Spirituality</i> offers radical new analyses showing that it is real religion and that it has, almost unnoticed, become integral to schools and doctors’ offices, Silicon Valley technovisions, and civic and social-justice activism. Taking spirituality seriously, this volume shows, is essential for understanding religion’s significant current role in our collective life.

- Ann Swidler, coeditor of <i>Challenging Modernity</i>,

This collection demonstrates the growing public significance of holistic spiritualities, making a powerful case that the shift from religion to spirituality signals a profound reconfiguration as important as the one that is shaking the political sphere in this age of populism. Lifting the blinders that the secularization paradigm continues to pull over our understanding of the spiritual turn, this book reveals an epochal shift away from Christianity in the West.

- François Gauthier, author of <i>Religion, Modernity, Globalisation: Nation-State to Market</i>,

Challenging conventional accounts of secularization, Houtman and Watts assemble essays by many of the leading scholars of contemporary spirituality, showing that Western spirituality is far more coherent and influential than the received wisdom suggests.

- Philip Gorski, coauthor of <i>The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy</i>,

Around 20 percent of Americans fall into the category of “spiritual but not religious.” Yoga has become a ubiquitous pastime for middle-class Westerners. Mindfulness is increasingly incorporated into school curricula, sports programs, and even corporate culture. Hollywood icons and Silicon Valley trendsetters tout the benefits of a “spiritual” life. These developments reflect a widespread turn away from “religion” toward “spirituality.” Yet the nature of this spiritual turn is still poorly understood, and its consequences sorely underappreciated.The Shape of Spirituality brings together leading sociologists to challenge common notions that spirituality is individualistic, privatized, and apolitical—and to make the definitive case for its social and political significance. Contributors examine the sweeping influence of spirituality on a variety of realms, including health care and therapeutic practice, popular culture, civic engagement, public protest, conspiracy culture, and progressive politics. Leveraging cutting-edge quantitative and qualitative data, this authoritative book makes clear that, far from being marginal and inconsequential, spirituality holds profound public importance today.
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The Shape of Spirituality brings together leading sociologists to challenge common notions that spirituality is individualistic, privatized, and apolitical—and to make the definitive case for its social and political significance.
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AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Spirituality—Privatized Pseudo-Religion?, by Galen Watts and Dick Houtman1. How Spirituality Grew up and out of Christianity, by Linda Woodhead2. The Cultic Milieu and the Spiritual Turn: The Need for Theoretical Revision, by Colin Campbell3. Holistic Healing and the Reestablishment of Religion in the United States, by Candy Gunther Brown4. Spiritualizing Therapy: How Psychologists Use Spirituality to Counter the Hyperindividualistic Spirit of the Therapeutic Framework, by Michal Pagis and Orly Tal5. The Spiritual Impulse in Silicon Valley: A Content and Discourse Analysis of Wired Magazine, 2001–2020, by Paul K. McClure and Christopher M. Pieper6. Lagged Identities and the Underestimated Civic Significance of Spirituality, by Evan Stewart, Tim Dacey, and Jaime Kucinskas7. When the Spiritual Is Political: Self-Realization and the Quest for Social Justice, by Galen Watts8. A Startling Alliance? Spirituality, Populism, and Antivaccination Protest, by Dick Houtman and Stef Aupers9. Conspirituality: An (Un)happy Marriage of Conspiracy Theories and Spirituality?, byJaron HarambamBibliographyContributorsIndex
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This fascinating collection makes a powerful case for contemporary spirituality as a new religious movement. The Shape of Spirituality offers radical new analyses showing that it is real religion and that it has, almost unnoticed, become integral to schools and doctors’ offices, Silicon Valley technovisions, and civic and social-justice activism. Taking spirituality seriously, this volume shows, is essential for understanding religion’s significant current role in our collective life.
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780231216845
Publisert
2024-10-15
Utgiver
Vendor
Columbia University Press
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
140 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet

Om bidragsyterne

Dick Houtman is professor of sociology of culture and religion at the Center for Sociological Research, University of Leuven. He is the author or editor of many books, most recently Science Under Siege: Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism (2021).

Galen Watts is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. He is the author of The Spiritual Turn: The Religion of the Heart and the Making of Romantic Liberal Modernity (2022).