The ambiguous role of materiality in transitions to Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Finland. Issue 2 (3rd April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kupari, Helena
• Is Part Of: Religion. Volume 53:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 314
• Page End: 334
• Publication Date: 2023-04-03
• Subjects: Conversion -- material religion -- semiotic ideology -- aesthetics -- liturgy; Religion -- Periodicals; Religions -- Periodicals; Theology -- Periodicals; Religion -- Périodiques; Théologie -- Périodiques; Religion; Religions; Theology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 200.5
• DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174914
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0048-721X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: According to the basic starting point of the study of material religion, religion is an inextricably material phenomenon. In theorizations of religious conversion, however, materiality is accorded little attention. This article presents a case study that investigates the role of materiality in individual religious change, as well as highlighting the dematerialized underpinnings of modern Western conceptualizations of conversion. It concerns transitions from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Finland. In this context, the sensory aspects of liturgical life are often identified as a central pull-factor of Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, partiality towards Orthodox aesthetics is not always considered a proper reason for switching churches. The article analyses interview material gathered from converts and is informed by the concept of semiotic ideology, which it applies to examine the different and sometimes conflicting assumptions regarding material expressions as mediators between humanity and divinity present in the data.