Studying Religiosity and Spirituality: A Review of Macro, Micro, and Meso-Level Approaches

Abstract

This paper seeks to advance the global study of religiosity and spirituality by conducting a meta-analysis of major approaches in the field. While the field, and thus the collected publications, are dominated by Western approaches, particular attention is paid in this analysis to publications from geographies that are not from the United States or Western Europe, especially these world regions: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Similarly, while the study of religiosity is considerably centered around Christianity, this analysis extends beyond Christianity, to the extent possible in extant studies, to include publications investigating other world religious traditions, such as African spirituality, African witchcraft, Afro-Caribbean religious traditions, Buddhism, Confucianism, folk religions, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Neo-paganism, New Religious Movements (NRMs), Shamanism, Sikhism, Spiritism, Taoism, and spirituality generally. A total of 530 publications were reviewed, and the studies are categorized by unit of analysis into: Macro, micro, and meso-level. Measurement constructs include religious demography, culture, belonging, behaving, believing, bonding, religious salience, spiritual identities, religious networks, occupations, congregations, denominations, and faith-based organizations. Non-Western sources and approaches are analyzed toward furthering future research in under-studied world regions. Implications are drawn for the field, such as the need to geo-code publications at the country level.

What’s Love Got to Do with It? Religion and the Multiple Logic Tensions of Social Enterprise

“…The current investigation recognises but does not explore other dynamics crucial to understanding the influence of intersecting contexts of religious faith, values, situational factors and institutional logics on social enterprises. For example, a Global South context and differences between the national, regional and cultural contexts unquestionably influence the social enterprises I studied (Herzog et al 2020). The influence of a 'where' context on inter-logic tensions in social enterprises and its intersection with the contexts I studied is a fruitful topic for future research that would test and extend the proposed model (de Bruin and Teasdale 2019).…”

“…A 'theological turn' in the broader field of organisation and management scholarship has only recently recognised religion's significance in organisational life (Baker and Dinham 2017;Dyck 2014;Herzog et al 2020;Tracey et al 2014). Scholars now contend that religious faith and values underpin both economic behaviour (McVea and Naughton 2021;Smith et al , 2021 and social action directed at alleviating poverty and inequality (e.g., Greenwood et al 2010;Gümüsay 2020;Zhao and Lounsbury 2016).…”

“…Religion is a group phenomenon involving group norms that specify beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviours relating to both sacred and secular aspects of life, which are integrated and imbued with meaning by an ideological framework and worldview. (Hogg et al 2010, p. 73) Until recently, religion and its expression in organisational life have received less scholarly attention from organisation and management scholars than the market and community institutional orders (Baker and Dinham 2017;Dyck 2014;Herzog et al 2020;Tracey et al 2014). Religion is unique among the societal-level institutional orders since religion influences the market, corporation, professional, state, family and community (or social welfare) orders and the logics that arise from them (Thornton et al 2012).…”

Gagasan Studi Agama Terapan Dalam Bingkai Kampus Merdeka: Perspsektif Sosiologi Pengetahuan

“…Salah satu tujuan dari SAA adalah memberi pemahaman (verstehen) yang utuh tentang agama dan keberagamaan. Manfaat yang hendak dibangun antara lain menciptakan relasi positif antar pemeluk agama sehingga tercipta harmoni, kerukunan, dan kerja sama antar pemeluk agama (Herzog et al, 2020;Vermander, 2019).…”

Globalized Religious Aftershock at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century—the Apapocúava-Guaraní Cataclysm and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

“…In this understanding, religion serves to deal with crises and other unexpected events, as could be observed in many cases worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis (van der Hoek 2022a ). Religion can from a functional perspective also serve to strengthen individuals psychologically in crises and provide resilience (Herzog et al 2020 : 15) or help to deal with different world views (Nagel 2021 : 221). For groups and larger societies, religion functions as a resource to cope with contingency and create shared values (Dutra and de Almeida Sales 2018 : 23).…”