Ordinary religious experience, learning and adaptation: a call for interdisciplinary inquiry
Palgrave Communications July 1, 2017 N. Barrett 5 citations
Discussions of religious experience often focus on rare, extraordinary cases, neglecting the more common 'ordinary religious experience' of regular practitioners during activities like worship or prayer. This article calls attention to this essential aspect of religious life and suggests ways to make it more accessible to investigation. Researchers should focus on the variability of engagement in religious practice and the processes of learning and adaptation that enhance practitioners' experiences. It also recommends extending ethnographic studies with theories of perception and cognition that address the role of material conditions in ordinary religious experience.