Religion and the Sense of Self

Human conceptions of identity are of central concern to both religious philosophies and the academic disciplines associated with them. Yet much of this debate is strangely abstract and disincarnate. We label ourselves with our attributes, metrics and qualifications; with our age, gender, profession, likes and dislikes. We do not describe ourselves by the way it feels to be a body – to be this body in particular, in this moment.This volume will revisit some of the historical assumptions of both theological and academic discourse, and compare personhood as it is constituted in more than Western religious cultures, and more than modern discourses. It will concern itself with other-than human selves, fragmented and collective selves, evolving and emerging selves, illusory, mendacious and ideal selves, and of course, profane and divine selves. Throughout, this volume will focus on the self in, and as a function of, its relationship with others. Such intimate concerns will naturally trouble the boundaries between emic and etic perspectives, approaching the old question of positionality in the study of religion in new ways.The Introduction provides an entry point to the field. Key texts are identified from a diverse range of prior scholarship, to help the reader understand the established lines of enquiry from anthropology and religious studies, but also movement and dance studies, South and East Asian studies, biosemiotics, theology, philosophy and history. It emphasises the complexity not only of religiously-generated and generating senses of the self, but also of the concepts of “religion” and “culture,” “self” and “other”. It also highlight the diversity of approaches and methods that might be applied in studying the sense of self in religious contexts. The chapters cover the experiences of being (the somatic experiences at the heart of everyday and extraordinary living), processes of gaining and refining a sense of self as an identity, the practices of personhood (religious practices and their effects on the sense of self), and radical theologies (stories of identity, marginalisation and reclamation in religious communities). An afterword highlights the contribution of the volume to current debates in the study of religion and the sense of self, and to the disciplines from which these two lines of study emerge.