Retheorizing the Postsecular Present: Embodiment, Spatial Transcendence, and Challenges to Authenticity Among Young Christians in Glasgow, Scotland

Abstract

This article explores and extends the geographies of postsecular theory. Despite growing claims of secularization, religion continues to be a highly public and rapidly diversifying issue, and of growing interest to geographers. We identify the spatial elements of postsecular theory, and consider how spatial approaches, particularly feminist work, that emphasize lived religion and embodiment might provide an alternative to existing analyses. Increasingly present in recent geographical work on religion, these approaches challenge the discursive, political, and social constructions of secularization and its theoretical claims and, we argue, are essential for the continued development of interdisciplinary postsecular approaches and analyses. Drawing on recent empirical research, we apply this argument to the religious subject constructions of young Christian-affiliated people living in Glasgow, Scotland. Their conceptions of authentic faith are intimately bound up in ideas of authenticity and embodied transcendence, which are both reinforced and challenged by particular historical and contemporary meanings of Christian identities. In conclusion, we reflect on the broader empirical and theoretical implications of our research for postsecular approaches to the study of religion and society.

Este artículo explora y amplía las geografías de la teoría postsecular. A pesar de los crecientes demandas de secularización, la religión sigue siendo un asunto altamente público y de rápida diversificación, y también de creciente interés para los geógrafos. Identificamos los elementos espaciales de la teoría postsecular y examinamos la manera como los enfoques espaciales, en particular el trabajo feminista, que enfatiza la religión vivida y la personificación, podrían proporcionar una alternativa a los análisis existentes. Encontrados cada vez con mayor frecuencia en el reciente trabajo geográfico sobre religión, estos enfoques retan las construcciones discursivas, políticas y sociales de la secularización y sus demandas teóricas y además, argüimos nosotros, son esenciales para continuar con el desarrollo de enfoques postseculares y análisis interdisciplinarios. Apoyándonos en investigación empírica reciente, aplicamos esta argumentación a las construcciones del sujeto religioso de gente afiliada a los Jóvenes Cristianos residentes en Glasgow, Escocia. Las concepciones que ellos tienen de la fe auténtica están íntimamente afincadas en ideas de autenticidad y trascendencia encarnada, ambas reforzadas y retadas por particulares significados históricos y contemporáneos de identidades cristianas. En conclusión, reflexionamos sobre las más amplias implicaciones empíricas y teóricas de nuestra investigación para los enfoques postseculares orientados al estudio de religión y sociedad.

Key Words:

• religion
• Scotland
• sectarianism
• secularization theory
• young people

关键词:

• 宗教
• 苏格兰
• 宗派主义
• 世俗化理论
• 青年

Palabras clave:

• religión
• Escocia
• confesionalismo
• teoría de la secularización
• jóvenes

Acknowledgments

We are first and foremost grateful to the many young people and adults who provided time, space, insight, and patience and the churches and youth organizations that facilitated our research. The project was generously funded by the AHRC-ESRC Religion and Society Programme under the title “Relational Religious Identities: Exploring Contemporary Meanings of Religion Amongst Scottish Christian Youth.” An earlier version of this article was presented at the Religion, Politics and Postsecular City conference (University of Groningen) and has been much transformed thanks to the interest of the attendees and organizers. We appreciate the exceptionally helpful comments of the anonymous reviewers and the support of the journal editors and the conversations and encouragement offered by Patricia Erkhamp, Linda Woodhead, and Chris Philo. All remaining errors and oversights are, nonetheless, our own.

Notes

1. The 2001 census found that 72.63 percent of people in Scotland, and 71.41 percent in Glasgow, identified as Christian (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget_print.asp?ID = 984).

2. The young people who participated in the research have been given pseudonyms.

3. In this context, the word is being deployed as a racial slur against Irish Catholics. The Fenian movement was an Irish revolutionary movement seeking independence from British rule.

4. Faith schools are funded by the state, and it is not uncommon for nonfaith schools to have close affiliations with Protestant parishes.

5. Religious education, a compulsory subject in state-funded British schools.

6. A Protestant organization founded in Ireland and dedicated to the aims of the reformation. It is often associated with anti-Catholic sectarianism in Scotland (and Northern Ireland).

7. One example provided by the convenor was the case of a Christian couple wanting to tell their foster children that they oppose homosexuality.