Individualized Religion: Practitioners and their Communities

201 Pages·2021·2.669 MB·English

by  Claire Wanless, Bettina E. Schmidt, Steven Sutcliffe, William Sweetman

Individualized Religion
Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies
Series Editors: Bettina E. Schmidt, Steven Sutcliffe and Will Sweetman
Founding Editors: James Cox and Peggy Morgan
Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies publishes cutting-edge research in
the Study of Religion/s. The series draws on anthropological, ethnographical,
historical, sociological and textual methods amongst others. Topics are diverse,
but each publication integrates theoretical analysis with empirical data. The series
aims to refresh the interdisciplinary agenda in new evidence-based studies of
‘religion’.
Appropriation of Native American Spirituality, Suzanne Owen
Becoming Buddhist, Glenys Eddy
Community and Worldview among Paraiyars of South India, Anderson
H. M. Jeremiah
Conceptions of the Afterlife in Early Civilizations, Gregory Shushan
Contemporary Western Ethnography and the Definition of Religion,
Martin D. Stringer
Cultural Blending in Korean Death Rites, Chang-Won Park
Free Zone Scientology, Aled Thomas
Globalization of Hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer, Christopher D. L. Johnson
Innateness of Myth, Ritske Rensma
Levinas, Messianism and Parody, Terence Holden
New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion, Mary Catherine Burgess
Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion,
Eugenia Roussou
Post-Materialist Religion, Mika T. Lassander
Redefining Shamanisms, David Gordon Wilson
Reform, Identity and Narratives of Belonging, Arkotong Longkumer
Religion and the Discourse on Modernity, Paul-François Tremlett
Religion as a Conversation Starter, Ina Merdjanova and Patrice Brodeur
Religion, Material Culture and Archaeology, Julian Droogan
Secular Assemblages, Marek Sullivan
Spirits and Trance in Brazil, Bettina E. Schmidt
Spirit Possession and Trance, edited by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lucy Huskinson
Spiritual Tourism, Alex Norman
Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education, edited by D. L. Bird
and Simon G. Smith
The Critical Study of Non-Religion, Christopher R. Cotter
The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue, Muthuraj Swamy
Religion and the Inculturation of Human Rights in Ghana, Abamfo Ofori Atiemo
UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age, David G. Robertson
Individualized Religion
Practitioners and Their Communities
Claire Wanless
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First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Claire Wanless, 2021
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For James

Contents
List of figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Theorizing individualized religion 21
3 A community of incomers 47
4 A diversity of practice 73
5 Individuals and their practice 103
6 Individuals in community 131
7 The importance of individualized religion 159
Bibliography 175
Index 181
Figures
1 Hebden Bridge town centre 48
2 St George’s Square, in the centre of Hebden Bridge 49
3 A terrace of underdwellings 52
4 Leaflets and posters on a window in central Hebden Bridge 58
5 The Upper Calder Valley from the road to Heptonstall 61
6 The Real Junk Food Project 65
7 After-effects of the 2015 Boxing Day flood 67
8 Graffiti found on a wall in the centre of Hebden Bridge 74
9 Personal offering left in a nook in the wall of a derelict church 75
10 A post-meeting social event 80
11 Calderdale Yoga Centre sign 83
12 Anti-fracking benefit gig 91
13 An angel mosaic 93
14 A smudge stick 98
15 The Birchcliffe Centre 105
16 The noticeboard of Earth Spirit 107
17 Signpost outside Hebden Bridge Station 125
18 Incredible Edible planter 134
19 Storytelling performance in Todmorden 141
20 Launch of the 2017 local Labour Party campaign 152
Acknowledgements
I would first like to thank my husband James Wanless, for his ongoing
understanding and support. Next, I thank my PhD supervisors, Paul-François
Tremlett and Marion Bowman for their unswerving support, fair and
constructive criticisms and wise counsel. I am also grateful to many academics
and other individuals for stimulating and useful discussions, many of which
have challenged my thinking and helped me to move my ideas on. They are
unfortunately too many to mention individually here. Finally, I am grateful to
everyone I encountered during the course of my fieldwork in Hebden Bridge and
the surrounding area – especially my research participants, but also everyone
with whom I spent time, talked and engaged with, and shared activities.
In addition, I am extremely grateful to the Open University for the initial
support that enabled this project to get started, and to the Arts and Humanities
Research Council / CHASE Doctoral Training Partnership for the funding that
supported the research during its final two years.