Working for the Saints

The article provides an overview of theoretical approaches to comprehending private forms of religion. Private forms of religion are understood as beliefs and practices that go beyond exclusively institutional structures and doctrines. The relevance of the topic is connected with the existing demand for identifying trends in the development of the religious situation based on data on practices that take place in the everyday life of believers. The study aims to trace the peculiarities of the conceptualization of the notion of ‘private religion’ as a broad framework for describing religious reality. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: 1) To identify, based on systematization of the existing research literature, the key optics of studying private forms of religion; 2) to compare the specifics of definitions of religious reality in each of these optics; 3) to establish the key elements of the broadest approach to religious reality in the light of the theory of ‘lived religion’; 4) to trace the genetic connection of the theories of the framework of ‘lived religion’ with previous forms of theorizing, and to describe the evolution of these concepts in terms of religious epistemology. The materials of the study were publications devoted to private forms of religion considered within the concepts of lived religion, vernacular religion, and related concepts, as well as their predecessors - popular religion and folk religion, which caused the emergence of modern models.The methods of theoretical analysis and SWOT analysis were used to assess the internal logic of the concepts under consideration as well as the method of historical analysis, which allowed for the tracing of the evolution of approaches and establishment of their origins. In addition the method of comparative analysis was used to compare the existing strategies for researching private forms of religion. As a result, the conceptual contours of the study of private forms of religion were revealed, taking into account the peculiarities of previous theories. The article makes 4 main conclusions: 1. The systematization of the research literature has revealed two groups of studies: ‘traditional’ studies of ‘folk religion’ and publications from the late 20th century that attempt to revise these traditional optics. The first group is represented by sources that emphasize ‘folk’ beliefs and practices. The second group includes modern theories of “lived”, “vernacular”, “material” and other conceptualizations of private forms of religion, which developed as a reflection on the limitations of existing models. 2. Each of the optics focusing on private forms of religion emphasizes the irreducibility of description to observable phenomena; in this case ‘vernacular religion’ fixes first of all the presence of the irrational element of the course of religious life; ‘material religion’ establishes the significance of objectification of religious life; ‘lived religion’, in our opinion, is the broadest notion revealing the variety of possible theoretical approaches to private forms of religion. 3. The key elements of modern concepts of private forms of religion are: the idea of their dynamic nature; the emphasis on everyday practices and their context; the orientation on empirical analysis and the application of qualitative research methods; the priority of research on material culture, personal experience of believers, and sensory aspects of worship. 4. Within the framework of addressing the theoretical origins of modern approaches, the main methodological difficulties are identified (primarily related to the hierarchical and evaluative specificity of traditional theories). The problem of neutral terminology is revealed, related to the inevitability of discursive associations and dichotomous oppositions, which, despite criticism, continue to be reproduced in research. It is revealed that comprehensive analyses of institutional and private practices from the perspective of systemically conducted falsificationism remain relatively rare, which indicates the prospect of further research in this area.

Research on “lived religion” focuses on the everyday practices of ordinary people, in contrast to the study of official texts, organizations, and experts. It includes attention to rituals and stories and spiritual experiences that may draw on official religious traditions, but may also extend beyond them. Lived religion is closely related to “popular religion”, but is a more encompassing category. As with the study of popular religion, the focus is on ordinary people and often includes festivals and shrines and healing practices that may happen without the approval of religious authorities. Lived religion research pays special attention to the lives of women, of populations of color, and of people in the Global South. Both approved traditional practices and new innovations may be “lived”. Being “lived” points especially to the material, embodied aspects of religion as they occur in everyday life. The study of lived religion includes attention to how and what people eat, how they dress, how they deal with birth and death and sexuality and nature, even how they modify hair and body through tattoos or dreadlocks, for instance. The study of lived religion includes everyday sacralized spaces and the physical and artistic things people do together, such as singing, dancing, and other folk or community traditions that enact a spiritual sense of solidarity and transcendence. The focus on lived religion has enriched and complicated the efforts of social scientists to understand the place and role of religion in society.

This article investigates the practice of lived religion in two contemporary indigenous communities in Mexico (San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca and El Espíritu, Hidalgo) by examining some of their unique religious festive traditions to analyze the ways in which human and non-human social actors interact with one another to create networks of symbolic meaning and senses of belonging. Specific examples of embodied practices and materiality in the festive cycle of each community are analyzed as the basis for their religious identities which also, the author suggests, create dynamic senses of community and self through the mutual sharing of symbolically significant cultural discourses. By analyzing different elements of traditional religious festivals in these two communities from the perspective of actor-network theory, the article reveals how the concept of “lived religion” can be used to express the realities of indigenous religious life in Mexico and as an alternative to “popular religion,” which typically resonates more frequently throughout the literature.

This special issue of JMEMS takes up the classical debate on the “shared” and the “individual” through the concepts of “lived religion” on the one hand and “experience” on the other. The collection presents the state-of-the-art within the emerging field of history of “lived religion,” exemplifying its differences from earlier notions of “popular religion.” The articles take a step forward in the field of lived religion by approaching it from the perspective of experience as an analytical category. The issue considers experience as it occurs in three fundamental stages: (1) ways in which individual people and communities encounter the world; (2) the simultaneous relational, intersubjective process making sense of those encounters; and (3) the social and physical structures born from the repetition of these processes so as to produce knowledge of the “real” world. Approaching the topic in terms of these stages of experience allows the articles to investigate negotiations between individual and communal or shared experience in the field of lived religion within various geographical contexts of medieval and early modern Europe. Such an approach helps to better identify the drivers of historical change across medieval and early modern periods.

Objectives: The paper strives to generate deep insights into the shared value practices of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL). The specific objectives are to examine the extent to which IBBL is creating shared value through its innovative products and to comprehend the motives for such value creation. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The study is founded on case study research design. The case study has used published financial information as well as interviews with practicing managers and customers of IBBL to triangulate data and validate the results. Findings: The study reveals that IBBL, to some extent, has been creating shared value in all the three areas of Porter and Kramer’s shared value concept but mostly in the areas of re conceiving products and markets and redefining value chain to improve productivity. Although shared value is practicing at IBBL, its managers hardly acquainted with Porter and Kramer’s shared value model. The study also demonstrates that the main motivating factor behind pursuing shared value at IBBL is to reach market resources in the form of goodwill and brand image. Bank customers also appreciated the shared value effort as they are truly benefiting from the shared value practices of IBBL. Application/Improvements: The way IBBL is performing its banking business (taking social problems as business opportunities to create shared value) will be a role model for other banks both in developed and developing countries. Keywords: Banking on Shared Value, Creating Shared Value, Islamic Banking Shared Value, Shared Value Practices, Sharia’h-Based Banking

The research on popular religion in the context of social and religious changes is based on the work of the well-known Croatian sociologist of religion, Željko Mardesic (writing under the pseudonym Jakov Jukic). According to Mardesic, it is historically possible to establish various reasons for the emergence of popular religion in the religious image of Croatia. Moreover, according to the same author, in Croatian society there are only four types of the emergence of popular religion, to be elaborated on further in the paper where upon applying the four types to the religious situation in the life of students studying at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Split. Reasonable interpretation and systematic understanding of the social, political, and cultural contexts of the mentioned students is included in modern typological analysis of sociological understanding of the theory of popular religion. The research implies statistical differences among the four typological realities of popular religion in order to study the correlation of each type of popular religion with all the others. In the light of the above-mentioned introductory notes on the four typological realities of popular religion, the aim of this paper is two-fold: to show the current relevance of the issue on the nature of social and religious changes in Croatian society, approaching the discussion in a less usual way. In this way, not only is popular religion reflected in social events but the social events are reflected in religion. This will be supported by an innovative attempt to explain social and religious changes which, according to Jukic, are the reasons for the occurrence of popular religion in Croatia.

Sequestrants as a Food Ingredient

Who Supports Political Islam and Why?

Teasing Out Clues, Not Kooks

The public health issues associated with food allergens can only be tackled by taking an integrative approach that involves all sectors of the food industry and engages all who are involved in the manufacture, preparation, and service of foods. Significant advances have been made over the past two decades in our understanding of food allergens and in the development of control measures to minimize the public health risks associated with them (e.g., issuance of allergen labeling regulations, development of guidelines for managing allergens in food production and foodservice operations, and establishment of policies in communities and schools to manage food allergies). However, broad and successful implementation of allergen controls has yet to be achieved. Many gaps still exist, including the lack of hazard analysis and risk management approaches tailored to the needs of specific types of operations, absence of detailed documentation on best practices, insufficient dissemination of available information and resources to stakeholders, and shortage of tools and programs to train staff. This book is designed to address many of these gaps by highlighting best practices for the assessment, management, and communication of food allergen risks at various stages of the food chain, including manufacture of packaged food, serving meals in restaurants and other foodservice establishments, and preparation of food at home. The information presented also provides valuable resources for stakeholders to develop structured, risk-based training programs. This chapter provides an overview of current efforts to address public health issues associated with food allergens and the challenges that remain.

This paper explores how local, lived religion has creatively linked spiritual insights and popular devotions in ecologically valuable settings helping generate and preserve the rich Spanish biocultural heritage. Focusing on a selection of Sacred Natural Sites (SNS), mostly Marian sanctuaries, it shows that local “geopiety” and religious creativity have generated “devotional titles” related to vegetation types, geomorphological features, water, and celestial bodies. It also argues that, despite mass migration to urban centers, the questioning of “popular religion” after the Second Vatican Council, and the rapid secularization of Spanish society over the past fifty years, a set of distinctive rituals and public expressions of faith—some of them dating back to the Middle Ages—have remained alive or even thrived in certain rural sanctuaries. These vernacular devotions, however, do not necessarily announce the advent of the postsecular. Finally, it suggests that Protected Area (PA) managers, regional governments, custodians, anthropologists, tourism scholars, and theologians should work together in order to analyze, interpret, and help solve the management challenges highly popular SNS face.

Popular, ethnic, and folk religions endure in all regions of the planet, but specially in underdeveloped or developing non-Western countries. The main objective of this paper was to propose a framework for understanding this popular religious trend. Although religion in general has previously been linked to multiple modernities, the revitalization of popular religions has not. While Eisenstadt’s original theory of multiple modernities has been criticized on several aspects, his interpretative approach is valid provided that the contradictory dynamics of modernizing processes are recognized. The epistemological shift suggested by this article involves recognizing the biases that Western sociology has brought to its analysis of religions. Once we treat modernities as multiple, the specificity of each modernity opens up the spectrum of religious alternatives that flourish in every geo-cultural area. The growing diversity of popular religious expressions in the Global South stems from the fact that they are supported by thousands of believers. Their lived religions spills beyond religious institutions. These popular religiosities are the main sources of religious diversities and religious resistance in the context of multiple modernities. Lived religion and symbolic action allow us a better understanding of the magical-religious expressions of peoples of the world.

This article discusses the sociological understanding of popular religion by first exploring the theories of Gramsci. It then critiques this approach by arguing that the social construction of popu...

Local Religion in Colonial Mexico

This article discusses the sociological understanding of popular religion by first exploring the theories of Gramsci. It then critiques this approach by arguing that the social construction of popular religion in contrast to institutionalized religion is not as clear cut in our late modern, multi-faith and global world as it was in the early modern period. Indeed, through consumer culture, some institutionalized religions are now reaching for the popular. Through the use of new Internet methodologies (e.g. Ngram Viewer), the article explores the various understandings of the words popular religion, mysticism and spirituality. It discovers that the usage of these words has evolved over time and reflects wider socio-cultural changes. The article then argues that spirituality (technical or unchurched) can be sociologically understood as an outcome of two processes that intertwine within late modernity; that is the gentrification of popular religion and the democratization of mysticism.