Studying Religion in Motion: A Networks Approach

Abstract

Th is essay offers some theoretical and methodological reflections on how the study of religion might look if we were to assume that complexity, connectivity, and fluidity are preponderant features of our present age, without ignoring the strong countervailing global logics of segregation, surveillance, and control. After characterizing transnational, global, and diasporic modalities of religion in motion, the essay explores the strengths and weaknesses of the analytical tools of flows, landscapes, and networks in the study of mobility. I argue that by placing power front and center, the concept of networks provides a necessary corrective to hydraulic models of flows and spatial metaphors of landscapes. Th ese metaphors tend to overstate the pervasiveness of porous boundaries and movement or to privilege the hermeneutic and phenomenological dimensions of religious activity.

Forms of Religious Glocalization: Orthodox Christianity in the Longue Durée

“…For the Orthodox, papal claims to primacy violate the conciliarity of the Christian tradition. 4 Undoubtedly, the religious alienation between Catholic and…”

“…Second, the relationship between historical sociology and the sociology of religion has been revitalized [2,3], and this dimension represents an increasingly significant research agenda. Third, the relationship between glocalization and religion represents a promising new avenue of inquiry, with contributions ranging from the Americas [4,5] to Eastern Europe [6,7].…”

Only (Dis-)Connect: Pentecostal Global Networking as Revelation and Concealment

“…On the other hand, in a methodological reflection on the globalization of religion and network analysis, Manuel Vásquez [22] points out that not all flows are created equal, and draws on Anna Tsing's [23] notion of "awkward engagement" to discuss restrictions in access to religious and other resources. The globe is "multiply gated" ( [22], p. 167; see also [24]) through mobility regimes that permit only certain kinds of movement across borders, effectively blocking off some chains of connection and enabling others.…”

“…The globe is "multiply gated" ( [22], p. 167; see also [24]) through mobility regimes that permit only certain kinds of movement across borders, effectively blocking off some chains of connection and enabling others. Religious networks embody moral but also economic and political geographies, displaying differentials of power and forms of exclusion as well as inclusion.…”

“…Religious networks embody moral but also economic and political geographies, displaying differentials of power and forms of exclusion as well as inclusion. The kinds of globalization that they constitute must therefore be theorized in terms of social closure as well as openness ( [22], pp. 169-72, 179; [25]).…”