Lived Religion and Vernacular Religion. Conceptualization of the Terms

Abstract

The conceptual network used in modern religious studies is being constantly updated and supplemented with new terms, while “classical” concepts are undergoing semantic shifts as well. This paper is focused on the history of the notions of lived religion and vernacular religion, which entered the scientific lexicon in the late 20th century. Both terms relate to the study of everyday life and its philosophical understanding and are based on extensive empirical research as well as anthropological data. The concepts of lived religion and vernacular religion were proposed by scholars as an alternative to the traditional and widespread binary schemes for describing religion, which contrast the high/low, elite/folk and institutionalized/non-institutionalized forms of religion. The genesis and spread of these concepts reflected the general trend, which consists in refraining from applying a uniform Western European model and denominational theological discourse to the variable phenomena of religious experience. The term lived religion, which originated in memoirs and biographical literature, characterized the personal experience of Christians, extending to the daily religious practices of various traditions. Vernacular religion goes back to the Latin word vernaculus, which had been used to describe something native, local, domestic and, later, to distinguish the local language from the official Latin. The term was proposed by philologists to solve religious problems of studying unorganized, spontaneous, everyday and individual forms of manifestation of religion. Currently, both terms are being successfully used, including in Russian scientific discourse, in religious studies on various phenomena of materialization, kitsch, gender and many other aspects of religion.