Bookshelf

Situating Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power co-edited by Jaime Kucinskas, associate professor of sociology

March 1, 2022

Tags Faculty Book

(New York: Oxford University Press, 2021)
According to the publisher, “While levels of religious belief and observance are declining in much of the Western world, the number of people who identify as ‘spiritual but not religious’ is on the rise. Practices such as yoga, meditation, and pilgrimage are surging in popularity. ‘Wellness’ regimes offer practitioners a lexicon of spirituality and an array of spiritual experiences. Commentators talk of a new spiritual awakening ‘after religion.’ And global mobility is generating hybrid practices that blur the lines between religion and spirituality.”

The essays collected in this book examine not only individual engagements with spirituality, but also show how seemingly personal facets of spirituality are deeply shaped by religious, cultural, and political contexts.