“The story God is weaving us into”: narrativizing grief, faith, and infant loss in US evangelical women's blog communities

Abstract

This case study explores how US evangelical Christian “mommy blog” communities constitute spaces for the collective memorialization of infant loss. Personal religious blogs feature a rich combination of esthetics, narrative structure, description of religious practices and beliefs, reader interaction, and linked networks. Using a textual approach, I illustrate distinctive features in how pregnancy and infant loss and grief are experienced, shared and memorialized in US women's evangelical blogging communities. I argue that the blog format allows for a (re)narrativization of the devastating experience of infant loss as grieving mothers situate their traumatic personal experiences within the context of an ongoing religious narrative in which blog readers also come to participate. As the blogger tells the story of her own loss to a listening public, it becomes a larger shared story, so that it is not just the child's story but also the author's story, their family's story, and “our story” inclusive of the blog community of readers, “the story God is weaving us into,” post by post, day by day. Personal religious blogs and their reading publics, therefore, can provide a medium for the ongoing creation of meaning, faith and community in the context of infant loss.

Keywords:

• Religion and new media
• Infant death
• Grief
• Online memorial culture
• Mommy blogs
• Evangelical Christianity

Notes

[1] In his study of early Latter-Day Saints theology, Douglas Davies describes the assurance that the prophet Joseph Smith gave to bereaved mothers that they “would regain their dead children as babies in the next life,” despite conflicting testimonies and doctrinal statements on this question (Davies 2010: 90).

[2] According to a 2013 Quinnipiac poll, approximately 60% of white Protestant evangelicals think abortion should be illegal in most or all cases; “American Voters Back ‘Stand Your Ground, 'Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Obama Tops Republicans on Economy,” Quinnipiac University National Poll, 2 August 2013. Available at: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/us/us08022013.pdf (accessed 23 June 2014). A 2013 Pew Forum study found a similar figure of 60%: “Public Opinion on Abortion,” Pew Research Religion and Life Project, July 2013. Available at: http://features.pewforum.org/abortion-slideshow/slide3.php (accessed 23 June 2014).

[3] Song lyrics retrieved from http://www.klove.com/music/artists/mercyme/songs/bring-the-rain-lyrics.aspx

[4] The Smiths' video “Audrey Caroline,” a tribute to their daughter's short life, has been viewed almost 400,000 times on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CnUtVY35o) as of this writing and has inspired other bereaved parents to create and post their own similar videos. Audrey also inspired a song by Todd Smith's group Selah, “I Will Carry You,” which is the soundtrack to this video as well as to many others. Angie Smith is now the author of five books, including I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2010) about Audrey, three additional books on women's ministry, and a children's book.