Documentary Theology: Testing a New Approach to Texts in Religious Communities

Abstract

Scholars of religion have much to gain by studying texts, produced and used within religious communities and institutions, as documents. Documents, as theorized in a growing body of literature in the social sciences, offer distinctive perspectives on the dynamics within religious communities, and in particular on theological development. We demonstrate this approach through a study of an early twentieth-century document, "Foundations of a True Social Order," which constitutes a turning-point in British Quaker approaches to social justice. We show how treating documents, firstly as effects of practice with effects in practice, secondly as spaces or places, and thirdly as "transitional objects," can disclose aspects of their religious significance that are otherwise obscure. Indicating directions for future development, we suggest ways to explore critically the implicit theologies of religious documentary practices.

Reacting to Consecrating Science: What Might Amateurs Do?

“…It draws on methods developed in the social sciences to analyze “texts as documents” to investigate “how [they] work apart from, or beyond [their] being read as [texts]” (Muers and Grant , 617). Muers and Grant presume that “documents, whether anyone is intentionally reading or invoking them, form social and political subjects, confer responsibility, and determine social relations; and they do this not so much by their semantic content as by the nature of the social acts they inscribe” (Muers and Grant , 617). For instance, the U.S. Constitution or Bible may reproduce power structures when used as a touchstone in political arguments whether or not their details are actually read or considered.…”

“…Documents may inspire people to buy a product, support a cause, venerate the document, or distribute them to others. Despite these many influences of documents beyond their arguments or content, Muers and Grant suggest that “outside the study of how scriptural texts are received and used there is, however, relatively little interest within theology or religious studies in how documents work—in how they configure and disrupt patterns of relationship and structures of power, and how they form, deform, or transform lives; or in the implicit or explicit theologies of their production and use” (Muers and Grant , 618). I would add to this list the implicit or explicit ethics of their production and use.…”

“…I would add to this list the implicit or explicit ethics of their production and use. Drawing on speech act theory and the work of scholars such as Bruno Latour, they argue that “thinking about how documents are ‘texts that do things’” can bolster our understanding of religious practice, particularly “sources of power, authority, and agency” (Muers and Grant , 618).…”

“…Often, this type of investigation can reveal new information about the document unavailable by studying its contents or arguments. For example, Muers and Grant maintain that the process of developing the “Foundations of a True Social Order” helped transform the way that Quakers developed social thought at the end of the First World War (Muers and Grant , 626). Later, the document inspired much Quaker social justice work, though they argue that its details were rarely formally written about.…”