Using the term "spiritual" rather than "religious" to describe one's self is far more common among young adults today. This volume examines the potential meanings and consequences associated with this shift by investigating its practice.

The current generation of young adults, at least in the Western world, has shown a marked tendency toward a preference for describing themselves as spiritual as contrasted to religious. This book seeks to examine the possible meanings and consequences associated with this contrast in terms of the similarities and differences that affect those who use these terms with respect to the everyday practices that they themselves employ or believe should follow from being self-defined as religious or spiritual or not. The several chapters in this volume take up the religious-spiritual contrast specifically through investigations into practice: In what ways do people who claim to be religious or spiritual define these self-images as manifest in their own lives? How on a daily basis does a person who considers himself or herself religious or spiritual live out that self-image in specific ways that she or he can describe to others, even if not share with others? Are there ways that being spiritual can involve religion or ways that being religious can involve spirituality, and if so, how do these differ from concepts in prior eras (e.g., Ignatian spirituality, Orthodox spirituality, Anglican spirituality, etc.)? We also explore if there are institutions of spiritual practice to which those who term themselves spiritual turn, or if the difference implied by these terms may instead be between institutionalized and de-institutionalized expressions of practice, including but not limited to self-spiritualities.

A practical investigation of the implications of calling oneself 'spiritual' as opposed to 'religious' on everyday life With papers on the ideas and concepts behind the spiritual "turn" as well as practical case studies about its effects on day-to-day life Tries to clarify the meaning of "spiritual" as opposed to "religious", by looking for both similarities and differences between these two self-images

Autorentext

Giuseppe Giordan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Padua. From 2007 he has served as Secretary of the Sociology of Religion Section of the Italian Sociological Association, and from 2009 as General Secretary of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR/SISR). With Enzo Pace and Luigi Berzano he also edits the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion . He completed all his social science degrees at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum ) in Rome, receiving his doctorate summa cum laude in 2010. He also holds a bachelor's degree in theology from the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy. His books in English include Identity and Pluralism: The Values of the Post-Modern Time (2004) and the edited volumes Vocation and Social Context (2007), Conversion in the Age of Pluralism**** (2009) **** and Youth and Religion**** (2010), in addition to articles in Implicit Religion, Social Compass, and the Review of Religious Research.

William H. Swatos, Jr . received his doctorate with examination honors in social theory from the University of Kentucky. He has served for over a decade as Executive Officer of both the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the Religious Research Association. He is a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, editing the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, and teaches in the sociology faculty at Augustana College (Illinois). He is also Canon Theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Quincy, Illinois. With Kevin Christiano and Peter Kivisto, he is co-author of the text Sociology of Religion , currently in its second edition. In addition he is co-author of a text in Social Problems as well as For Democracy: The Noble Character and Tragic Flaws of the Middle Class (with Peter Kivisto and Ronald Glassman) and Icelandic Spiritualism: Mediumship and Modernity (with Loftur R. Gissurarson), as well as fourteen edited volumes, including the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society . In 2004 he assumed the general editorship of the Religion and the Social Order series sponsored by the ASR, with a total of ten volumes completing publication between then and 2011.

Inhalt

Introduction: The Spiritual Turn in Religion as Process and Outcome, W.H. Swatos, Jr. and G. Giordan.- Part I: Ideas and Concepts of the Spiritual Turn.- Spirituality and the Changing Religious Field, L. Woodhead.- Spirituality and Systems of Belief, E. Pace.- Religious Pilgrimage, Pilgrimage Spirituality and Everyday Life, w.H. Swatos, Jr.- Lived Religion: Signposts of Where We Have Been and Where We Can Go from Here, M.J. Neitz.- Religious Lifestyles, L. Berzano.- Part II: Case Studies in the New Spirituality.- Toward a Sociology of Prayer, G. Giordan.- The Concept of Community in Catholic Parishes, P.Wittberg.- Scared into Church? Conceptions of God, Exclusivity, and Religious Practice in the United States, C.D. Bader and A. Palmer.- Spiritual Life in Modern Japan: Understanding Religion in Everyday Life, A. Molle.- Workers in the Vineyard: Catholic Women and Social Action, C. Holtmann.- Short Youth: Resources and Meanings of Early Transition to Adulthood among Foreign Youth, D. Girardi.- Everyday Research Implications of Catholic Theological Positions: An American Perspective, A.J. Blasi.- From Institution to Spirituality and Back: Why We Should Be Cautious about the Spiritual Turn in the Sociology of Religion, I. Turina.