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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the Association of American Geographers 2013-11, Vol.103 (6), p.1421-1436
Main Authors: Olson, Elizabeth, Hopkins, Peter, Pain, Rachel, Vincett, Giselle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bgi / Prodig
Christians
confesionalismo
Discourse analysis
Empirical research
Escocia
Europe
Geography
Identity
jóvenes
People, Place, and Region
Religion
religión
Scotland
Scotland and Scottish Islands
sectarianism
Secularization
secularization theory
Social construction
Spatial analysis
teoría de la secularización
The British Isles
United Kingdom
Young adults
young people
世俗化理论
宗派主义
苏格兰
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0004-5608
2469-4452
1467-8306
2469-4460
DOI:10.1080/00045608.2012.702516