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.