Ordinary religious experience, learning and adaptation: a call for interdisciplinary inquiry

Discussions of religious experience often focus on rare, extraordinary cases, neglecting the more common 'ordinary religious experience' of regular practitioners during activities like worship or prayer. This article calls attention to this essential aspect of religious life and suggests ways to make it more accessible to investigation. Researchers should focus on the variability of engagement in religious practice and the processes of learning and adaptation that enhance practitioners' experiences. It also recommends extending ethnographic studies with theories of perception and cognition that address the role of material conditions in ordinary religious experience.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Within disciplines of religious studies, discussions of religious experience tend to revolve around the most rare and extraordinary cases, while neglecting much more common varieties of “ordinary religious experience”—that is, experiences of regular practitioners in the midst of normal religious activities such as worship or prayer. This comment will, first, call attention to this essential aspect of religious life, and, second, will suggest ways in which it can be made more accessible to investigation. This article suggests that researchers focus on the variability of engagement in religious practice and the processes of learning and adaptation by which regular practitioners enhance their experience of religious practice. It also suggests that ethnographic studies be extended by carefully selected theories of perception and cognition that address the role of material conditions in ordinary religious experience.