Materiality and the Study of Religion

Tim Hutchings is a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Media Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden. He is a sociologist of digital religion, and his research has included studies of online churches, digital Bibles, evangelism and pilgrimage. His current work focuses on death, grief and memory in digital environments, as part of the Existential Terrains research program (et.ims.su.se) funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation and Stockholm University. He is the editor of the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture (jrmdc.com). Joanne McKenzie is currently undertaking doctoral research in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK. The project is focused on how social class shapes contemporary English evangelicalism and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Introduction: The body of St Cuthbert Tim Hutchings and Joanne McKenzie Material analysis and the study of religion David Morgan Part 1. Production From production to performance: Candles, creativity and connectivity Marion Bowman Blessed food from Jalaram's kitchen: Narrative, continuity and service among Jalaram Bapa devotees in London Martin Wood Music and materialism: The emergence of alternative Muslim lifestyle cultures in Britain Carl Morris Augmented graves and virtual Bibles: Digital media and material religion Tim Hutchings Part 2. Classification Art works: A relational rather than representational understanding of art and buildings Graham Harvey Im/material objects: Relics, gestured signs, and the substance of the immaterial Timothy Carroll 'An altar inside a circle': Climate activists and green Christians ritualising and relating to place and planet Maria Nita The significance of secular sacred space in the formation of British atheist identities Janet Eccles and Rebecca Catto Part 3. Circulation Death in material and mental culture Douglas J. Davies Religion materialised in the everyday: Young people's attitudes towards material expressions of religion Elisabeth Arweck Mobilising Mecca: Reassembling blessings at the museum Steph Berns Matter challenging words: From 'angel talisman' to 'prayer ornament' Terhi Utriainen Afterword: Materiality, lived religion, and the challenges of "going back to the things themselves" Manuel Vasquez