When one religion isn't enough
Subtitle: the lives of spiritually fluid people
By: Duane R. Bidwell
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 180
ISBN-13: 9780807091241; 9780807091258; 9780807039885
Subjects: RELIGION / Ecumenism & Interfaith; Multiple religious belonging; RELIGION / Comparative Religion; Spiritual biography; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion; Christianity and other religions
Description: In the United States, we often assume religious and spiritual identity are pure, static, and singular. But some people regularly cross religious boundaries. These "spiritually fluid" people celebrate complex religious bonds, and in the process they blur social categories, evoke prejudice, and complicate religious communities. Their presence sparks questions: How and why do people become spiritually fluid? Are they just confused or unable to commit? How do we make sense of them? When One Religion Isn't Enough explores the lives of spiritually fluid people, revealing that while some chose multiple religious belonging, many more inherit it. For many North Americans, the complicated legacies of colonialism are part of their family story, and they may consider themselves both Christian and Hindu, or Buddhist, or Yoruban, or one of the many other religions native to colonized lands. For some Asian Americans, singular religious identity may seem an alien concept, as many East Asian nations freely mix Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and other traditions. Some African American Christians are consciously seeking to reconnect with ancestral spiritualities. And still other people are born into religiously mixed families. Jewish-Christian intermarriage led the way in the US, but religious diversity here is only increasing: almost four in ten Americans (39 percent) who have married since 2010 have a spouse who is in a different religious group. Through in-depth conversations with spiritually fluid people, renowned scholar Duane Bidwell explores how people come to claim and be claimed by multiple religious traditions, how spiritually fluid people engage radically opposed truth claims, and what this growing population tells us about change within our communities.

In the United States, we often assume religious and spiritual identity are pure, static, and singular. But some "spiritually fluid" people celebrate complex religious bonds, and in the process they blur social categories, evoke prejudice, and complicate religious communities. Bidwell explores the lives of spiritually fluid people, revealing that while some chose multiple religious belonging, many more inherit it through complicated legacies of colonialism or being born into religiously mixed families. Discover what this growing population tells us about change within our communities. -- adapted from jacket
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: or, Where I stand; title: "Normal" spirituality?; title: Choosing; title: Receiving; title: Collaborating; title: A field guide to spiritual fluidity; title: Observations, implications, provocations.