Occupying the Ontological Penumbra: Towards a Postsecular and Theologically Minded Anthropology

Abstract

Abstract:In the wake of the postsecular turn, we propose to reappraise both the religious as studied in anthropology and how anthropologists who have religious or spiritual interests can contribute to an emerging postsecular anthropology. Such an anthropology recognizes the failure of secularization theory to dissolve the dichotomy between the religious and the secular. We propose that as anthropologists we consciously occupy the ontological penumbra, an ambiguous and plural space in which we engage with various counterparts, both human and nonhuman. This means that we have to be open to the real possibility of the existence of gods, spirits, and other nonhuman entities. These should not only be treated as subjects of study, but also recognized as valid counterparts with whom we can engage in the ethnographic encounter. While this necessitates relinquishing the former privileged position of secular and Western epistemology, it opens up the discipline to a potentially unprecedented ethnographic productivity that is epistemologically and ontologically innovative. Without neglecting its secular heritage, such a theologically minded postsecular anthropology places anthropology in a better position to explore what it is to be human, especially in terms of understanding religious and spiritual experiences.

The anthropologist’s last bow: Ontology and mysticism in pursuit of the sacred

“…Starting from a Christian position, Merz and Merz (2017) formulate the anthropological goal as that of ‘occupying the ontological penumbra’. The ‘penumbra’ refers to the bringing of ‘seemingly incommensurable dichotomies, such as spirit and matter, together in a locus characterized by its inherent ambiguity’ (Merz and Merz, 2017: 88).…”

“…Starting from a Christian position, Merz and Merz (2017) formulate the anthropological goal as that of ‘occupying the ontological penumbra’. The ‘penumbra’ refers to the bringing of ‘seemingly incommensurable dichotomies, such as spirit and matter, together in a locus characterized by its inherent ambiguity’ (Merz and Merz, 2017: 88). From an anthropological perspective this approach, like Joel’s gnostic diplomacy, involves jettisoning the traditional ‘methodological agnosticism’ that has characterised the discipline of anthropology, a method that for an increasing number of scholars is no longer acceptable (Fountain, 2013: 322; Glass-Coffin, 2010: 215; Kahn, 2016: 4–6).…”

“…The matter of anthropologists’ own personal beliefs is a ‘touchy subject’ (Stewart, 2001: 326). Anthropologists who profess their own religious conviction face ‘scepticism and animosity from various colleagues’ (Merz and Merz, 2017: 80). Universities are reportedly ‘hostile’ to students and academics who inhabit different ontological life-worlds that depart from the strict naturalism that underlies much of modern secular academia (Glass-Coffin, 2010: 206).…”

“…The other in this case does not simply refer to ‘cultural’ others but also the ‘not-self’ including the ‘other beings’ that animate differing ontologies. These scholars have sought both to engage in the ontological worlds of our informants as well as incorporating and drawing upon the anthropologists’ own faith (see for example Glass-Coffin, 2010; Merz and Merz, 2017; Willerslev and Suhr, 2018). Such works enjoin us to be willing to be displaced by the spirit worlds of their informants.…”

After Awakening, the Laundry: Is Nonduality a Spiritual Experience?

“…However, social scientists, theologians, and philosophers now speak of "postsecularism" or the "postsecular turn" (e.g., Habermas, 2008;Merz & Merz, 2017;Partridge, 2004;Ziebertz, & Riegel, 2009) to describe the resurgence of belief in the sacred, both religious or spiritual-and it must be stressed that secularization theory was an isolated trend particular to certain European and Anglophone cultures that has never been applicable to non-Western societies (e.g., Cannell, 2010;Merz & Merz, 2017;Taylor, 2007). For example, the non-theistic Buddhism embraced in Western cultures, notably of the kind studied for attainment of nonduality, is quite at variance with Asiatic Buddhism, which syncretically mixes with Confucianism, Taoism,…”