Performing with God: Toward a New Theory of Emotions in Church
For decades, sociology and religion scholars sought to explain emotion in religious rituals, yet neither have sufficiently accounted for the performance of emotion and its relationship with denominational cultures in Christianity. This work rectifies this issue by integrating Arlie Hochschild’s (198...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Common Ground Publishing
2014
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| In: |
The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
Year: 2014, Volume: 4, Issue: 2, Pages: 21-38 |
| Further subjects: | B
Symbolic Interaction
B Ritual B Emotion B Social Psychology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | For decades, sociology and religion scholars sought to explain emotion in religious rituals, yet neither have sufficiently accounted for the performance of emotion and its relationship with denominational cultures in Christianity. This work rectifies this issue by integrating Arlie Hochschild’s (1983) "feeling rules" and Goffman’s (1959; 1967) "impression management" into a theory of emotional performance in religious services. Based on a year of participant observation in Catholic, Congregationalist, and Evangelical services, I illustrate this theory by describing the subtly shifting feeling rules that constrain congregant emotional expression during services. I also detail the feeling tools clergy use to elicit active emotional expression from their congregations during sermons, either supporting or threatening their fronts as competent preachers. The result is a framework useful across religious settings where participants are unable to openly narrate their emotional states to researchers. |
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| ISSN: | 2154-8641 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v04i02/51088 |