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Introduction: Belief as Cultural Performance.: Special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28:2, edited by Gordon Lynch and Abby Day.

Day, Abby, Lynch, Gordon (2013) Introduction: Belief as Cultural Performance.: Special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28:2, edited by Gordon Lynch and Abby Day. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28 (2). pp. 199-206. ISSN 1353-7903. E-ISSN 1469-9419. (doi:10.1080/13537903.2013.783315) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:42364)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2013.783315

Abstract

Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural, and national contexts to suggest more complex ways in which belief might be conceptualised and researched. While the ‘authenticity’ of belief is a significant value for young people across these cases, the authors show how belief can, in different contexts, be a marker of identity, an expression of socially significant relationships or an organising centre for the lives of individuals and groups. Belief can also be understood as the performance of embodied practices shaped by one’s spatial and cultural environment. In this wider context, training young people in propositional forms of belief is shown to be a particular kind of religious project, which can be unstable and have unintended consequences.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/13537903.2013.783315
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Neshen Isaeva
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2014 10:12 UTC
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2020 04:09 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42364 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Day, Abby.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Lynch, Gordon.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8961-3310
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