Material Religion
Scope & Guideline
Illuminating the Role of Objects in Religious Experience
Introduction
Aims and Scopes
- Material Culture and Religion:
The journal emphasizes the role of material culture in shaping and expressing religious beliefs, rituals, and identities. This includes the study of artifacts, architecture, and everyday objects in religious contexts. - Interdisciplinary Approaches:
'Material Religion' encourages interdisciplinary research that combines insights from anthropology, sociology, art history, and religious studies to analyze the complexities of materiality in religion. - Global Perspectives:
The journal features research from diverse cultural and geographical contexts, highlighting how material religion manifests differently across the globe and in various religious traditions. - Agency and Relationality:
A focus on the agency of objects and the relational dynamics between people, objects, and spaces is central to the journal's exploration of how materiality influences religious practices. - Historical and Contemporary Studies:
The journal publishes both historical analyses and contemporary case studies, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of material religion over time.
Trending and Emerging
- Materiality and Digital Culture:
There is an increasing exploration of how digital technologies intersect with material religious practices, reflecting the influence of online spaces and digital artifacts on contemporary spirituality. - Embodied Practices and Sensory Experience:
Recent studies emphasize the sensory aspects of religious experience, focusing on how physical engagement with objects and spaces shapes belief and practice. - Environmental and Ecological Concerns:
Emerging themes include the relationship between religion and environmental issues, examining how material practices reflect and respond to ecological challenges and sustainability. - Globalization and Transnationalism:
The journal is seeing a rise in research that investigates the impacts of globalization on religious practices, including the movement of religious objects and the hybridization of beliefs in transnational contexts. - Politics of Materiality:
There is a growing focus on the political dimensions of material religion, exploring how material practices can both challenge and reinforce power structures within religious communities.
Declining or Waning
- Traditional Textual Analysis:
There has been a noticeable decrease in studies focusing solely on textual analysis of religious scriptures, as the journal increasingly prioritizes material and embodied practices that go beyond written texts. - Static Representations of Religion:
Themes centered on static representations of religious beliefs, such as iconography without context, are becoming less frequent as the journal shifts towards dynamic interactions between materiality and lived religious experience. - Historical Exclusivity:
While historical studies remain important, there is a waning focus on overly specific historical narratives that do not connect to contemporary material practices, as scholars seek more integrative approaches.
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