Leaving religion as a letting go ritual: exploring the trajectories of meaning making in narratives about apostasy

• Authors: Magdalena Grabowska

Title variants

PL

Odchodzenie od religii jako rytuał przejścia: badanie trajektorii znaczeń w narracjach na temat apostazji

Abstracts

PL

Zaprezentowane rozważania dotyczą procesów tworzenia znaczeń w narracjach na temat apostazji. Materiał badawczy pochodzi z wywiadów przeprowadzonych z członkami i członkiniami fejsbukowej grupy „Apostazja 2020” oraz z wpisów zamieszczonych na tym samym profilu dotyczących doświadczenia apostazji. Analiza biograficznych narracji pozwala przypuszczać, że doświadczenie to nosi znamiona rytuału przejścia. W skrócie, apostazja widziana jest tu jako zjawisko społeczno-religijne, które odzwierciedla procesy sekularyzacyjne w Polsce. W badaniu poszukiwaliśmy odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy apostazja może być doświadczeniem przełomowym, takim, które rozpoczyna nowy etap życia.

EN

The present paper elaborates on the meaning-making processes of leaving the Roman Catholic Church in Poland as indicated in the material coming from interviews and posts published on the Facebook group “Apostazja 2020”. Analysing biographical narratives concerning the experience of apostasy, we are inquiring whether it betrays traces of a rite of passage. Briefly, we present apostasy as social and religious phenomena, but we draw particular attention to the state of Catholic religiosity in Poland. We are seeking an answer to the question whether the act of apostasy is a transformative experience, a liminal moment which affects a person’s sense of identity and opens a new phase in life.

Keywords

EN

apostasy; Catholic Church; discourse; leaving; narratives; religion

PL

apostazja; Kościół katolicki; dyskurs; odchodzenie; narracja; religia

• Publisher: Akademia im. Jakuba z Paradyża w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim
• Journal: Język. Religia. Tożsamość
• Year: 2024
• Issue: 1 (29)
• Pages: 173-190

Dates

published

2024

Contributors

author

Magdalena Grabowska

• Uniwersytet Gdański

• https://orcid.org/0000000266261671

References

• Bakhtin M., Discourse in the novel, [in:] The Dialogic imagination, ed. M. Holquist, transl. M. Holquist, C. Emerson, Austin 1981, pp. 259-422.
• Barro R., Hwang J., and McCleary R., Religious conversion in 40 countries, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2010, 49 (1), pp. 15-36.
• Bellah R. N., Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life, Berkeley 1985.
• Benedict XVI, Omnium in Mentem of the supreme pontiff Benedit XVI on several amendments to the code of Canon Law, 2009 [online],
• Brinkerhoff M., Burke K., Some notes on “Falling from the faith”, „Sociological Analysis” 1980, 41 (1), pp. 41-54.
• Bromley D., Sociological perspectives on apostasy: an overview, [in:] The Politics of religious apostasy: The role of apostates in the transformation of religious movements (religion in the age of transformation), ed. D. Bromley, London 1998, pp. 3-16.
• Coser L., The age of the informer, „Dissent” 1954, 1, pp. 249-254.
• Davie G., Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without belonging, Oxford, Cambridge, Mass 1994.
• Detlaff R., Apostazja a formalny akt wystąpienia z Kościoła katolickiego w kanonicznym prawie karnym, Poznań−Gdańsk−Warszawa 2016.
• Dougherty K. D, Johnson R. B.R., Polson E.C., Recovering the lost: remeasuring U.S. religious affiliation, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2007, 46, pp. 483-499.
• Fuller R., Spiritual, but not religious: understanding unchurched America, Oxford New York 2001.
• Garage Gallery, Apostasia: rituals of letting go – GarageGallery [online].
• Gennep Van A., The rites of passage, Chicago 1960.
• Grabowska M., Komunikat z badań: dlaczego Polacy odchodzą z Koscioła? No 3/2022, CBOS.
• Grabowska M., Odchodząc od wierzeń: analiza narracyjna dyskursu o apostazji, Toruń 2023.
• Greer B., Roof W.C., “Desperately seeking Sheila”: locating religious privatism in American society, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 1992, 31, pp. 346-352.
• Grimes R., Deeply into the bone. Re-inventing rites of passages, Barkley, Los Angeles, London 2000.
• Streib H., Deconversion, [in:] Oxford handbook of religious conversion, eds. L. R. Rambo, C. E. Farhadian, Oxford 2014, pp. 271-296.
• Hervieu-Leger D., Le pèlerin et le converti. La religion en mouvement, Paris 1999.
• Hoge D. R., Johnson B., and Luidens D. A., Vanishing boundaries: the religion of mainline protestant baby boomers, Louisville, Ky 1994.
• Horvath A., Thomassen B., Wydra H., Introduction: liminality and cultures of change, „International Political Anthropology” 2009, 2 (1), pp. 3-4;
• https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_ 20091026_codex-iuris-canonici.html
• Joseph J. E., Language and identity. National, ethnic, religious, New York 2004.
• Kvale S., Prowadzenie wywiadów, transl. A. Dziuban, Warszawa 2012, pp. 182-184.
• Lim Ch., Putnam R. D., MacGregor C. A., Secular and liminal: discovering heterogeneity among religious nones, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2010, 49 (4), pp. 596-618.
• Little M., Jordens F. C., and Sayers E. J., Discourse communities and the discourse of experience, „Bioethical Inquiry” 2022, 19, pp. 61-69.
• Resolution No. 20/370/2015 of the Polish scopal Conference dated October 7, 2015, regarding the issuance of the General Decree of the Polish Episcopal Conference concerning departures from the Church and return to the community of the Church.
• Roof W. C., A Generation of seekers: the spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation, San Francisco 1993.
• Roof W. C., Spiritual marketplace: baby boomers and the remaking of American religion, Princeton, N.J 1999.
• Sherkat D. E., Wilson J., Preferences, constraints, and choices in religious markets: an examination of religious switching and apostasy, „Social Forces” 1995, 73(3), pp. 993-1026.
• Sherkat D. E., Leaving the faith: testing theories of religious switching using survival models, „Social Science Research” 1991, 20 (2), pp. 171-187.
• Smith C., Sikkink D., Social predictors of retention in and switching from the religious faith of family of origin: another look using religious tradition self-identification, „Review of Religious Research” 2003, 45(2), pp. 188-206.
• Smith T., Seokho K., The vanishing protestant majority, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2005, 44, pp. 211-223.
• Storm I., Halfway to heaven: four types of fuzzy fidelity in Europe, „Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2009, 48(4), pp. 702-18.
• Szakolczai A., Liminality and experience: structuring transitory situations and transformative events, „International Political Anthropology” 2009, 2 (1), pp. 141-172.
• Taylor S., Littleton K., Biografie w rozmowie. Narracyjno-dyskursywne podejście badawcze, „Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej” 2010, vol. VI, no 2, pp.103-121.
• Voas D., The rise and fall of fuzzy fidelity in Europe, „Eur Sociol Rev”, 2009, 25, p. 155-161.
• Wuthnow R., After the baby boomers: how twenty- and thirty-somethings are shaping the future of American religion, Princeton 2007.
• Wuthnow R., America and challenges of religious diversity, NY 2005, https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400837243.

Identifiers

DOI

10.5604/01.3001.0054.5834

Biblioteka Nauki

34100775