A1 Journal article (refereed)
Introduction to the special issue : Beyond Self-Fashioning and Freedom—Bending, Breaking, and Adhering to Rules in Religious Contexts (2022)

Alava, H., Clarke, M., & Gusman, A. (2022). Introduction to the special issue : Beyond Self-Fashioning and Freedom—Bending, Breaking, and Adhering to Rules in Religious Contexts. Suomen Antropologi, 46(3), 6-15. https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.124754

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Alava, Henni; Clarke, Morgan; Gusman, Alessandro

Journal or series: Suomen Antropologi

ISSN: 0355-3930

eISSN: 1799-8972

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 21/11/2022

Volume: 46

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 6-15

Publisher: Suomen antropologinen seura

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.124754

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/84474

Abstract

Rules are a crucial part of much religious thought and practice. Their importance or insignificance, their strictness or laxness, and their rigidity or flexibility in the face of change are constant themes of debate, both within and outside religious communities. Yet they have arguably not been given the attention they deserve within recent anthropology. Since the rise of practice theory, rules have more often been considered something to look past in the search for agency. Where the new anthropology of ethics has addressed religious orthopraxy, it has largely been through the lens of the cultivation of virtuous self, or the ways in which moral rules may become especially salient in extraordinary circumstances, such as moments of radical cultural transformation. But religious rules are not just a function of ethical crisis or virtuoso projects of the self. They are also a taken-for-granted part of everyday life for millions of people worldwide. In this introduction and the case studies that follow, we thus aim to move beyond current perspectives, reflecting on both the nature of religious rules themselves and the ways in which they are negotiated in believers’ everyday lives.

Keywords: religion and religions; ethics; rules; values (conceptions); anthropology; anthropology of religion

Free keywords: rules; anthropology; religion; ethics

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2022

JUFO rating: 2