The Concept of Spirituality and Its Place in Contemporary Societies

Dear Colleagues,

In contemporary societies, the concept of spirituality covers an increasing variety of individual experiences related to well-being and the search for wholeness and unity within the divine and the universe.

According to us, spirituality means the subjectivization of religion, a process which is primarily related to the search for the sacred. This process fosters the idea of the sacredness of a unique subjective life lived in deep connection with the self. Sociologists of religion consider spirituality in terms of unfinished, developing, open, and dynamic experiences and practices, contrasting and/or relating them to the sociological dimensions of religiosity (Ammerman; Giordan; Giordan and Sbalchiero; Heelas and Woodhead; McGuire). 

The role that spirituality plays in personal identity, self-awareness, embodiment, and well-being makes this concept relevant to multiple processes in contemporary societies. It covers a variety of concerns questioning modern public discourses related to gender, cross-generational issues, cultural contexts, profession/the workplace, and religious pluralism and non-religion.

For the understanding of the spiritual perspective, different sociological theories and approaches have been developed and applied to explain the relations and dynamics between individual spiritual experiences and observable sociocultural contexts of social interactions linked to them.

We invite contributors to this Special Issue to consider these dynamics within broader sociological theories and empirical research, especially focusing on the following topics:

• Spirituality and religious pluralism;
• Spirituality at the workplace;
• Gender and spirituality;
• Youth and spirituality;
• Spirituality in everyday life;
• Sociological measures of spirituality.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor (stefano.sbalchiero@unipd.it) or to the Religions Editorial Office (religions@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring the proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review.

References:

Ammerman, N. T. (2013). Sacred stories, spiritual tribes: Finding religion in everyday life. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Giordan, G. (2007). Spirituality: From a religious concept to a sociological theory. In K. Flanagan, & P. C. Jupp, (Eds.), A sociology of spirituality (pp. 161–190). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

Giordan G., Sbalchiero S. (2020), La spiritualità in parole. Autonomia degli stili, Mimesis, Milano.

Heelas, P. & Woodhead, L. (2005). The spiritual revolution: Why religion is giving way to spirituality. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Wuthnow, R. (1998). After heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Giordan
Dr. Stefano Sbalchiero
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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