Religious practice in a post-Catholic Ireland

Towards a concept of ‘extra-institutional religion’

Bibliographic Data

ID18952001
AuthorsG Ganiel (0000-0001-9894-033X, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume66
Issue4
Pages471-487
Publication date2019-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7686 • E-ISSN: 1461-7404
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0037768619868418
OpenAlexW2920999476
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited37

This article develops the concept of ‘extra-institutional religion’ to describe how some religiously committed individuals practise religion in a ‘post-Catholic’ Ireland. Rooted in an island-wide study, it describes extra-institutional religion as the practice of religion outside or in addition to the Catholic Church, Ireland’s historically dominant religious institution. As a new concept, extra-institutional religion provides an alternative to the theoretical emphasis on religious individualisation advocated by sociologists of religion and general theorists like Ulrich Beck. It builds on the concepts of British sociologists of religion Grace Davie (‘believing without belonging’ and ‘vicarious religion’) and Abby Day (‘believing in belonging’ and ‘performative religion’). It argues that extra-institutional religion may have application outside Ireland in the mixed religious markets of Europe. Extra-institutional religion also may contribute to wider change by balancing its two structural strengths: its position on the margins, and its continued links with institutional religion

Epistemology · Institution · Lived religion · Performative utterance · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies

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