Meredith B. McGuire, Lived Religion. Faith and Practice in Everyday Life

The aim of this article is to present the results of a sociological study on everyday life within a female cloistered monastery. This is a radical form of religious life, highly routinised, distanced from the outside world and conducted in community yet in almost total silence. By elaborating upon the concepts of everyday and lived religion, the scope of our examination complements dominant sociological approaches to the study of this religious phenomenon. By addressing the following research question: ‘Do cloistered monasteries de-individualise and totally regulate the life of nuns?’, we discuss selected aspects of everyday life in the institution and its contemporary transformations related to, among other things, new communication technologies and new generations of nuns. We show that in this highly institutionalised place nuns remain reflexive individuals.

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Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life - By Meredith B. McGuire

Religious Studies Review ◽

10.1111/j.1748-0922.2010.01460_2.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 268-268

Author(s):

Wyndy Corbin Reuschling

Keyword(s):

Everyday Life ◽

Lived Religion

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Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. By Meredith McGuire. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. ix+290. $19.95 (paper).

American Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1086/651337 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 115 (3) ◽

pp. 924-926

Author(s):

Michele Dillon

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Lived Religion ◽

Oxford University ◽

Oxford University Press

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Sacristy

10.1093/oso/9780190680589.003.0006 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Paula Pryce

Keyword(s):

Theoretical Analysis ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Daily Rhythm ◽

Lived Religion ◽

Ordinary Life ◽

Everyday Activities ◽

Ways Of Being

A contribution to the field of lived religion, Chapter 6 critiques the idea of ritual as a reified category separate from ordinary life. Contemplative Christians sought to lead lives of “ceaseless prayer” by learning to “keep attention” in their everyday activities with contemplative awareness techniques, including keeping a monastic daily rhythm and practicing “conscious work.” The chapter illustrates their efforts with an ethnographic example describing how Wisdom School participants treated a flu epidemic as an opportunity to engage contemplative ways of being. It also includes reports of individual practitioners’ “intentional living” in the privacy of their homes. Summarizing the significance of the ritualization of everyday life in this community, one woman’s charismatic description of the contemplative aspects of kitchen work leads to a theoretical analysis of how ordinary tasks can prompt “transformation” through practitioners’ combination of attention, intention, unknowing, and ritualized action.

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