Approaching the ineffable: Synthesizing discursive and nondiscursive approaches in the study of religion

Abstract

Religion is a fascinating, complex, and relatively neglected topic in the field of psychology. It is a topic that is challenging for psychologists, who have historically tended to be less religious than the world's population on average, and the wider public to feel neutral about. The resurgence of interest in religion in the field of psychology not coincidently matches the interest of religion and spirituality in wider society, especially in the United States and even in secular Europe. Yet in spite of the need to study religious phenomena because of their relevance to the wider population and its centrality to human experience, the study of religion has been hampered and remains a tricky enterprise for many reasons. Scardigno, Manuti, and Mininni offer a rich cultural psychological approach for examining how the elderly make sense and give voice to their religious experiences and how they articulate and construct their stories of commitment and conversion. Yet cultural psychology must also understand the nondiscursive and difficult-to-articulate facets of religious experience and belief. Following Jacob Belzen (1999), this commentary argues for a plurality of approaches and one that synthesizes both discursive and nondiscursive approaches and examines rituals and, in particular, the phenomenon of pilgrimage to elucidate this argument.

Culture & Psychology: 25 Constructive years

“…The rich variety of semiotic resources available to persons in society are devices for distancing (Zittoun, Duveen, Gillespie, Ivinson, & Psaltis, 2003). Religious belief systems and their meaningful activity patterns (Beckstead, 2010, 2016; Manuti, Scargaglia, & Mininni, 2016; McKenzie & Jensen, 2017; Sartawi & Sammut, 2012) fortified by rituals (Hussein, 2018) allow for psychological distancing in relation with the imaginary fields of mysticism. 10 Even in secular cases “…secularization is not so much manifested in the disappearance of religion, but instead results in a state of post-secularity understood as the ‘intertwinement’ of the religious and the secular…” (Wojtkowiak, 2018, p. 464).…”

Towards a psychology of ritual: A theoretical framework of ritual transformation in a globalising world

“…In that line of thought, mental life is viewed as an ongoing process between the individual and context, similar to what has been referred to as 'relational being' (Gergen, 2009), 'positioning theory' (Harre´& Modhaddam, 2015) and 'dialogical self-theory' (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010). Further, in line with Beckstead (2016), I wish to argue that ritual as well as meaning making 'are not solely intra-individual happenings but also and primarily social, dialogical, and relational processes ' (p. 37).…”

“…Ritual studies are increasingly acknowledged as an interdisciplinary field of study with a focus on ritual as a cultural domain, rather than exclusively a religious domain (Grimes, 2014; Legare, Watson-Jones, & Souza, 2016). Less attention has been paid to psychological theories of ritual, with some exceptions (Beckstead, 2016; Grzymala-Moszczynska & Simpson, 1997; Legare et al., 2016; McCauley & Lawson, 2004; Vohs, Wang, Gino, & Norton, 2013). Recently, ritual has been gaining attention in psychological literature, such as neuropsychological approaches to ritual as a sensory and rhythmic experience (Bull & Mitchell, 2015; Hainskou & Liebst, 2016).…”