Transzendenz im Augenblick. Über die „Eventisierung“ des Religiösen —dargestellt am Beispiel der Katholischen Weltjugendtage

The eventization of faith as a marketing strategy: World Youth Day as an innovative response of the Catholic Church to pluralization

“…The cultural‐hybrid dimension of the event is already manifest in the WYD programs. These programs combine elements of profane festivals and religious celebrations and are based on a simultaneous mix of “traditional parochial mission, pilgrimage, happening and spectacle” (Ebertz, 2000, p. 354). With a mixture of typically profane elements (such as open‐air and indoor stadium events, cultural festivals, and parties) and typically religious elements (such as liturgy, stations of the cross, pilgrimage, religious services, confessions, and vigils) the organizers aspire to create a situational church community in the hope that this situational community will be carried over into the everyday life of the Church.…”

“…Hence, the more recent Catholic and Protestant church congresses, the European youth meetings of the Taizé Community, diocesan youth festivals such as “Church + Youth + X” and the evangelization mega‐events in Europe organized by ProChrist, can be regarded as examples of the new form of performative religious culture described in this paper. These events aim to facilitate what Ebertz (2000, p. 356) calls the “individual's experiential encounter with divine reality.” These types of event display all the features of what Hepp and Vogelgesang (2003) term “popular events.” Indeed, in the internal parlance of the Catholic Church, they are now unreservedly labeled as such. Although the “opportunities and risks of eventization” is still an occasional topic of discussion in Catholic circles, the Catholic Church in particular now tends to take the event as a presentation form seriously by using modern media to prepare the ground for, to stage, and to follow‐up its events.…”

“…Indeed, the Corpus Christi processions, which have been part of the Catholic tradition for centuries, are considered by many to display a number of event‐like features (cf. Ebertz, 2000; Ruster, 2006, p. 7f). Moreover, according to Knoblauch (2000a), the Papal Masses developed during the Pontificate of John Paul II also attest to the proactive handling of event forms on the part of the Catholic Church.…”

Achtsamkeit als kulturelle Praxis

“…Während in allen Achtsamkeitsmodellen eine Auseinandersetzung mit den empirischen Wissenschaften zu beobachten ist, erweisen sich dabei die Achtsamkeit I und III zudem jeweils als selektive und spezifische Aktualisierung des naturalistisch-entzaubernden Selbst-Welt-Modells (Kapitel 12). Die Achtsamkeit II wird hingegen als eine prädominante Aktualisierung des romantisch-wiederverzaubernden Selbst-Welt-Modells analysiert, da hier eine holistische »Transzendenz im Augenblick« (Ebertz 2000) als Reaktion auf die Kritik eines fragmentierten Selbst-und Weltverhältnisses angestrebt wird. Gerade durch die selektive Verarbeitung und Aktualisierung der kulturellen Modelle entstehen kulturell hybride Achtsamkeitsmodelle.…”

Religionssoziologie in Deutschland seit 1945: Tendenzen – Kontroversen – Konsequenzen

“…Das gilt bereits für die grundlegenden Arbeiten von Karl Gabriel (1992), Michael N. Ebertz (1997b) und Karl-Fritz Daiber (1995. Während Gabriel und Ebertz einem individualisierungstheoretischen Paradigma folgen, vertritt Daiber einen modernisierungs-und differenzierungstheoretischen Ansatz.…”