The phenomenology of religious life: Nietzsche and Bergson

In this paper I identify and discuss some themes in the thought of Nietzsche and Bergson respectively as these bear upon the wider project to which the paper contributes – the articulation of a philosophical naturalism which offers a non-reductive account of the origin and nature of religion on the basis that the real is 'religious' in essence. Implicitly, an alternative is thereby proposed to the approaches and presuppositions of the 'theological turn' perspective within contemporary 'continental philosophy of religion'. [PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR]

The nonformative elements of religious life: questioning the ‘sociology of spirituality’ paradigm

Sociological assertions of religious vitality in Euro-American societies have developed a paradigm of spirituality in which, following earlier studies of the New Age, a distinction is drawn between external authority and self-authority. Methodologically and theoretically problematic, this paradigm diverts attention from people’s social practices and interactions, especially in relation to multiple religious authorities. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork with an English religious network, and building upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper considers situations in which multiple authorities tend to relativize each other. Conceptualizing this in terms of nonformativeness - the lack of authorities’ abilities formatively to shape religious identity, habitus, and competition over religious capital - a new understanding of individual secularization emerges that questions assertions of vitality.

On the formation of the Christian character : addressed to those who are seeking to lead a religious life /

Mode of access: Internet.

Some reflections on the importance of a religious life, offered to the younger members of the Society of Friends /

Reprint. Originally published London, 1834.

The pleasantness of a religious life opened and proved,

Mode of access: Internet.

The divine life: being suggestions to those who are about commencing a religious life,

Mode of access: Internet.

On the formation of the Christian character : addressed to those who are seeking to lead a religious life /

Half title: Formation of the Christian character.

On the formation of the Christian character : addressed to those who are seeking to lead a religious life /

Mode of access: Internet.

On the formation of the Christian character : addressed to those who are seeking to lead a religious life /

Half title: Formation of the Christian character.

Childhood and character : an introduction to the study of the religious life of children /

Bibliography : p. 268-275.

Way marks; or, Directions to persons commencing a religious life.

Mode of access: Internet.

Some reflections on the importance of a religious life, offered to the younger members of the Society of Friends.

Mode of access: Internet.