Another Kind of Implicitness in Religion: Beliefs and Practices of Some Older Christian Women Disaffiliates
Issued Date: 4 Jul 2012
Abstract
This article considers a group of older women disaffiliates from a Christian church and the use they continue to make of Christian goods and services, although disaffiliated. Davie speaks of “vicarious believers” in a number of recent writings (2000, 2006, 2007a, b): the notion that while people may no longer attend church, they still rely on the vicarious believers to maintain the church, its beliefs and practices, on their behalf. I shall describe one such case, but this article focuses mainly on two other groups of women, who do not look to the churches (or certainly not to churchgoers) for any form of believing or belonging, yet who could be seen as maintaining connections with explicitly Christian beliefs and practices. I examine the reasons why, and argue that all these women, although disaffiliated, continue the practice of both the explicitly sacred in some form, and the secular sacred, through caring for others, a more implicit form of religion. Thereby, they contribute to the social and cultural resources of the communities in which they live.
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References
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Brown, C.G. 2001. The Death of Christian Britain: understanding secularization 1800–2000. London: Routledge.
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———. 2006. “Is Europe an Exceptional Case?” The Hedgehog Review 23–35.
———. 2007a. The Sociology of Religion. London, New Delhi, Singapore and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
———. 2007b. “Vicarious Religion: a methodological challenge.” In Everyday Religion, edited by N. Ammerman, 21–35. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305418.003.0001
Eccles, J.B. 2010a. How have preboomer and boomer women raised in Christianity who have lived through the “sixties revolution” been affected in terms of their religious and value commitments? An interview-based study with informants from south Cumbria. Unpublished PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
———. 2010b. “Le inglesi che vanno in chiesa: le ultima di una longa storia?” Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa 1: 88–106.
———. 2011. “Rehabilitated Returners: why some older women re-affiliate to the Christian church.” Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 47(1): 7–30.
———. 2012. “Holistic Switchers: the spiritual and value commitments of a group of older women church leavers.” Journal for the Study of Spirituality 1:187–202.
———. Forthcoming. “The religious and non-religious commitments of older women in the UK: Towards a new typology.” Journal of Contemporary Religion.
Fisher, B. and J.C. Tronto. 1990. “Toward a feminist theory of caring.” In Circles of Care: work and identity in women’s lives, edited by E. K. Abel and M. K. Nelson, 35–62. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Francis, L.J. and P. Richter. 2007. Gone for Good? Church-leaving and returning in the twenty-first century. Peterborough: Epworth.
Giddens, A. 1990. Modernity and Self-identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jamieson, A. 2002. A Churchless Faith: faith journeys beyond the churches. London: SPCK.
Kittay, E.F. 1999. Love’s Labor: essays on women, equality, and dependency. London: Routledge.
McLeod, H. 2004. “The Religious Crisis of the 1960s.” Paper presented at the Graduate Seminars of the Religious Studies Department, November 2004, Lancaster University.
McLeod, H. 2007. The Religious Crisis of the 1960s. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298259.001.0001
Richter, P. and L. J. Francis. 1998. Gone but Not Forgotten: church leaving and returning. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.
Sevenhuijsen, S. 1998. Citizenship and the Ethic of Care: feminist considerations on justice, morality and politics. London: Routledge.
Woodhead, L. 2010. “Implicit Understandings of Religion in Sociological Study and in the Work of Hugh McLeod.” In Secularisation in the Christian world, edited by C.G. Brown and M. Snape, 28–40. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Woodhead, L. 2011. “Five Concepts of Religion.” International Review of Sociology 21(1): 121–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03906701.2011.544192
Brown, C.G. 2001. The Death of Christian Britain: understanding secularization 1800–2000. London: Routledge.
Brown, C.G. 2006. Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Crockett, A. and D. Voas. 2006. “Generations of Decline: religious change in 20th-century Britain.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 45(4): 567–584. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00328.x
Davie, G. 2000. Religion in Modern Europe: a memory mutates. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2006. “Is Europe an Exceptional Case?” The Hedgehog Review 23–35.
———. 2007a. The Sociology of Religion. London, New Delhi, Singapore and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
———. 2007b. “Vicarious Religion: a methodological challenge.” In Everyday Religion, edited by N. Ammerman, 21–35. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305418.003.0001
Eccles, J.B. 2010a. How have preboomer and boomer women raised in Christianity who have lived through the “sixties revolution” been affected in terms of their religious and value commitments? An interview-based study with informants from south Cumbria. Unpublished PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
———. 2010b. “Le inglesi che vanno in chiesa: le ultima di una longa storia?” Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa 1: 88–106.
———. 2011. “Rehabilitated Returners: why some older women re-affiliate to the Christian church.” Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 47(1): 7–30.
———. 2012. “Holistic Switchers: the spiritual and value commitments of a group of older women church leavers.” Journal for the Study of Spirituality 1:187–202.
———. Forthcoming. “The religious and non-religious commitments of older women in the UK: Towards a new typology.” Journal of Contemporary Religion.
Fisher, B. and J.C. Tronto. 1990. “Toward a feminist theory of caring.” In Circles of Care: work and identity in women’s lives, edited by E. K. Abel and M. K. Nelson, 35–62. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Francis, L.J. and P. Richter. 2007. Gone for Good? Church-leaving and returning in the twenty-first century. Peterborough: Epworth.
Giddens, A. 1990. Modernity and Self-identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jamieson, A. 2002. A Churchless Faith: faith journeys beyond the churches. London: SPCK.
Kittay, E.F. 1999. Love’s Labor: essays on women, equality, and dependency. London: Routledge.
McLeod, H. 2004. “The Religious Crisis of the 1960s.” Paper presented at the Graduate Seminars of the Religious Studies Department, November 2004, Lancaster University.
McLeod, H. 2007. The Religious Crisis of the 1960s. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298259.001.0001
Richter, P. and L. J. Francis. 1998. Gone but Not Forgotten: church leaving and returning. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.
Sevenhuijsen, S. 1998. Citizenship and the Ethic of Care: feminist considerations on justice, morality and politics. London: Routledge.
Woodhead, L. 2010. “Implicit Understandings of Religion in Sociological Study and in the Work of Hugh McLeod.” In Secularisation in the Christian world, edited by C.G. Brown and M. Snape, 28–40. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Woodhead, L. 2011. “Five Concepts of Religion.” International Review of Sociology 21(1): 121–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03906701.2011.544192
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