Enjoying Religion

Pleasure and Fun in Established and New Religious Movements

Frans Jespers, Karin van Nieuwkerk, Paul Van Der Velde (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

212 Seiten

2018
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-4985-5501-2 (ISBN)

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This volume offers a wide variety of case studies ranging from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism to new religious movements showing there is an increasing tendency among believers and nonbelievers to enjoy or play with religion.

“Enjoying religion” seems to be a contradiction because religion is generally perceived as a serious or even suppressive phenomenon. This volume is the first to study the increase of enjoying religion systematically by presenting eleven new case studies, occurring on four continents. The volume concludes that in our late modern secular societies the enjoyment of religion or of its loose elements is growing. In particular when scholars concentrate on “lived religion” of ordinary people, the cheerful experiences appear to prevail. Many people use pleasant (elements of) religion to add meaning to their lives, to find spiritual fulfillment or a way to salvation, and to experience belonging to a larger unity. At the same time, diverse cultural dynamics of late modern society such as popular culture, commercialization, re-enchantment, and feminization influence this trend of enjoying religion. In spite of secularization, playing with religion appears to be attractive.

Frans Jespers is associate professor of comparative religion at Radboud University, Nijmegen. Karin van Nieuwkerk is professor of Islam studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen. Paul van der Velde is professor of Asian religions at Radboud University, Nijmegen.

Introduction: Investigations in Enjoying Religion
Frans Jespers

Part I Enjoying Established Religions

1. Enjoying Islam: Trajectories of Star Performers in the Egyptian Piety Movement
Karin van Nieuwkerk
2. Fun and Faith in the Ganges: The Bodily and Spiritual Pleasures of River Bathing
Catrien Notermans
3. Fun-damentalism: “As If” Experiences at a Creationist Theme Park
James S. Bielo
4. Tantra: Ecstatic Enjoyment Way beyond Boundaries
Paul van der Velde

Part II Enjoying Transformed Religion

5. Merry Christmas! Religion in Norway
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus and Lisbeth Mikaelsson
6. “Our Play Pleases the Man, the Spirits of the Desert, and Whatever”: Enjoying Religion at Burning Man
François Gauthier
7. Happinez, Zen, and Wealth
Frans Jespers
8. Celebrating With the Church of the SubGenius: X-Day Rituals of Bad Taste, Burning “Bob,” and the End of the World (Not)
Carole M. Cusack
9. Beyond Morality. On Religion in Aesthetic Form
Jean-Pierre Wils

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2021
Co-Autor	James S. Bielo, Carole M. Cusack
Verlagsort	Lanham, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	158 x 231 mm
Gewicht	531 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Makrosoziologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	1-4985-5501-2 / 1498555012
ISBN-13	978-1-4985-5501-2 / 9781498555012
Zustand	Neuware