Religion as Embodiment

Cultural-Psychological Concepts and Methods in the Study of Conversion among 'Bevindelijken

Bibliographic Data

ID2515664
AuthorsJacob A Belzen
Year1999
Volume38
Issue2
Pages236
Publication date1999-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1387792
OpenAlexW2328372735
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited20

Religion being multifarious and multiplex and not to be explained by one single psychology, cultural psychology is presented as a way to access the specificity of spiritual phenomena being constituted by diverse (sub)cultures. As an example of a religious form of life hitherto not approached - even considered impossible to approach - by psychology, the article introduces The bevindelijken, a group of experience-oriented conservative Calvinists in the Netherlands. Contemporary theorizing about embodiment is pointed out as viable in its exploration. After reflecting on methodological difficulties that had to be dealt with in empirical research, social constructionism, especially in its rhetorical-responsive version, is drawn on to explain some of the paradoxes of the peculiar concept of conversion, central to bevindelijke spirituality. As in many non-Western countries, but also with several more or less traditional religious groups in the West - where religion is a major shaping force in various, sometimes even almost all, domains of private and public life, and where people more often than not fail to distinguish between the two - bevindelijke believers have embodied (Bourdieu) knowledge of the third kind (Shotter) about their religion. Bevindelijke identity does not just consist in membership in some church, in affirming specific theological doctrines, in joining an inner circle or even in being able to account for one's religious experiences in a certain stylized way, but predominantly in an all-pervading style, belonging to a specific life form (Wittgenstein), displaying itself in and through the body

Epistemology · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis · Dutch Social and Cultural Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub