Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life

395 Pages·2013·3.328 MB·English

by  Nancy Tatom Ammerman

SACRED STORIES, SPIRITUAL TRIBES
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SACRED STORIES,
SPIRITUAL TRIBES
Finding Religion in Everyday Life
Nancy Tatom Ammerman

1
1
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Ammerman, Nancy Tatom, 1950–Sacred stories, spiritual tribes:
fi nding religion in everyday life/Nancy Tatom Ammerman.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–991736–5 (pbk.: alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0–19–989644–8
(alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0–19–989645–5 (ebook) 1. Spirituality—United States.
2. Religion—United States. 3. United States—Religious life and customs.
I. Title. BL2525.A5635 2013 306.60973—dc23 2013006545

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
List of Figures vii
List of Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
1 . I n Search of Religion in Everyday Life 1
2. “Spirituality” and “Religion”: What Are
We Talking About? 23
3. Spiritual Practices in Everyday Life 56
4. Religious Communities and Spiritual Conversations 91
5. Everyday Life at Home 128
6. Nine to Five: Spiritual Presence at Work 171
7. Everyday Public Life: Circles of Spiritual Presence
and Absence 212
8. Bodies and Spirits: Health, Illness, and Mortality 250
9. Spiritual Tribes: Toward a Sociology of
Religion in Everyday Life 288
Appendix 1. Participants and Th eir Religious Communities 305
Appendix 2. Coding and Analyzing Stories 309
Appendix 3. Research Protocols 313
Notes 323
Bibliography 341
Index of Participants (By Pseudonym) 367
General Index 369
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LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 “It’s a part of my offi ce that I think of as where
I keep my religious life.”—Sam Levitt 60
3.2 “ I’m really grateful for these scriptures.”
—Catherine Young 66
3.3 “Th is is the yoga studio. It’s a bad feng shui place cause
it faces a cemetery, [but] it’s not something that scares
me.”—Ericka Lombardi 72
3.4 “Th is is the library. . . . Study and literature are important
to me personally and professionally and spiritually.”
—Emma Cooper 79
3.5 “You’re just happy to be alive and just totally living on
the edge.”—Bill Hamilton 84
4.1 “I oft en go to confession here and we have Eucharistic
Adoration.”—Jessica Kingman 95
4.2 “Th is is a typical . . . altar layout where you have things in
the directions.”—Anna Cook 97
4.3 “Th is is my Th ursday morning scripture study.”
—Mary Hage 103
4.4 “I run a support group, it’s called Mastering
Motherhood, it’s for moms that have young children.”
—Jen Jackson 103
viii • List of Figures
4.5 “Th anksgiving dinner for . . . whoever didn’t have a
place to go.”—Andrew Hsu 108
4.6 “Th at’s just the typical Sunday morning scene.”
—Francine Worthington 111
5.1 “God put us here.”—Grace Shoemaker 131
5.2 “Th e heart of my home.”—Laura Henderson 132
5.3 “ We are oft en stuck at this traffi c light, and this is
the courthouse building . . . I just like the way it
lights up. ”—Nora Cole 141
5.4 “We always grew up, like, eating dinner together.”—
Jessica Wilson 1 48
5.5 “I thank the Lord every morning, every day, every
time I take this walk.”—Th eresa Collins 153
5.6 “ Lots of family came. Th is is when he started
praying for the baby.”—Jen Jackson 162
5.7 “Th is was for Passover . . . I love our dining room
and I love entertaining.”—Rachel Halpern 167
6.1 “My job, I guess, is to take the people through
when they come in.”—Jim Childs 181
6.2 “Th ere’s been a lot of reorganization at work.”
—Daphne LaCompte 185
6.3 “Every morning the in-patient team talks [here] about
how we can help these people.”—Mark Fuller, M.D. 189
6.4 “Th is is where I write . . . I’ve got a lot of things
on my bulletin board, a lot of goddess images for
inspiration.”—Emma Cooper 192
6.5 “Men that I work with, we get together, have lunch,
and . . . pray together.”—Charles Curlew 205
List of Figures • ix
7.1 “I went particularly looking for a church that
gave back to the community.”
—Jennifer Hammond 222
7.2 “It was very beautiful and very peaceful.”
—Lily Mattison 226
7.3 “We sit there and we really, really have wonderful
conversations.”—Ann Rosa 232
7.4 “Th is is a group in the Church to which I belong.
We are an arm of Georgia Right to
Life.”—Mary Hage 240
7.5 “Th is is where Colleen and I got married.”
—Robin Mitchell 247
8.1 “Where you go for your checkups and stuff .”
—Mary Poulsen 252
8.2 “Th is is not too far from my house where I went
riding.”—Alex Polani 259
8.3 “Any room that you go in for the Twelve-step
program they always have on the wall the Twelve
steps and the Twelve traditions.”—Greg Collins 264
8.4 “I will feel a sense of His presence, a sense of sort of a
soothing and a reassurance.”—Bethany Armstrong 271
8.5 A prayer request being recorded for inclusion in
Sunday worship.—Nancy Ammerman 2 79