Studying Lived Religion

This is a great book! Nancy Ammerman gives us a systematic framework for studying ‘lived religion’ – how real people ‘do’ religion in their everyday lives. Religion happens all around us: not just in churches, mosques, and synagogues, but also on mountaintops, in deep relationships, and in the talk and acts that fill our taken-for-granted days. Through many examples, Ammerman shows us seven dimensions along which everyday religion varies. From different forms of embodiment to different emotions, aesthetics, and moral sensibilities, we learn that religion is far more complex than we imagined – and far more interesting to study. ~James Spickard, University of Redlands

This book offers both a theoretical underpinning for the sociology of lived religion and a useful guide for carrying out practice in the field. Either one of these would make a significant intellectual contribution. Nancy Ammerman's accomplishment of both objectives makes this book pathbreaking. ~Meredith McGuire, Professor Emerita, Sociology and Anthropology, Trinity University

Meticulous, comprehensive, and intelligent, this marvelous book is a must-read for everyone interested in lived religion. Ammerman’s alertness to case studies is matched by her alertness to the expansive repertoire of methods that animate this body of work. ~David D. Hall, Harvard Divinity School

A master class in thinking and writing about subtle religion by a rare scholar who knows how to talk across disciplines and in ordinary language. “Pay attention,” Ammerman says, not just to institutional leaders and official doctrines but also to the eruption of the uncanny in unexpected places—in the stories we tell, stuff we hold dear, and the messy social circumstances in which it’s all embedded. Sage wisdom here for scholars, journalists, and anyone else on the lookout for intimations of the "spiritual dimension" breaking into the everyday. ~Stephen Prothero, C. Allyn and Elizabeth V. Russell Professor of Religion in America at Boston University.

Generous in spirit and substance, Studying Lived Religion is akin to a handbook-cum-manifesto animated by Nancy Ammerman’s enthusiasm for a ‘lived’ or ‘practice’ approach to the study of religion. ~David Hall, Harvard University, Sociology of Religion

Required reading for students and scholars of religious life at all levels. ~Choice

The whole book will be useful to anyone contemplating research on religion…Nancy Ammerman is a terrific guide to the process and to the insights it can yield. ~Catholic Books Review

Studying Lived Religion is a much-needed addition to both religious studies research and the classroom. Clearly written and tightly organized, it is accessible and eminently referenceable, offering a variety of methodologies, historical contexts, and examples. ~Nova Religio