Religious meaning making: Positioning identities through stories

摘要

Religion and spirituality have often been areas of exploration in which individuals tell stories to others to explain their belief systems and religious practices. In order to better understand this meaning-making process, life story narrative interviews were conducted in which individuals told stories about past experiences with religion and spirituality, constructing in the present interview context an identity in relation to these topics. Analysis of the discursive construction of identity shows that participants used specific linguistic devices to position between three contradictory qualities of identity: (a) continuity/change, (b) sameness/difference, and (c) agencyonagency. The differing positions that individuals construct in relation to other individuals, institutions, and dominant discourses are presented, highlighting the different religious meaning-making strategies used in story constructions. The utility and value of microanalytic discursive investigations in the study of religion and spirituality are explained.