A New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion: Contemporary Shamanic Practice in Scotland

by MaryCatherine Burgess

Overview

Weaving theory and practice together, MaryCatherine Burgess explores the historically difficult relationship between religion and spirituality by applying cross-cultural elements of shamanism and Danièle Hervieu-Léger's Model of 'Religion as a Chain of Memory' to her study of contemporary shamanic practice in Scotland. 

Within the context of cultural and religious change, she utilises Hervieu-Léger's analytical model to uncover a shamanic worldview that carries in its memory and practice a lineage of spirituality, not belief. This distinction sheds critical light on a new paradigm of spirituality and religion that reflects how many in Western societies currently respond to institutional religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826499653
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/29/2008
Series:	Continuum Advances in Religious Studies , #1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

MaryCatherine Burgess completed her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, where she currently works as the Associate Chaplain. She has extensive training and experience in human relations, change management, shamanic practice, psychodrama and sociometry, retreat facilitation, mental health practice, and Celtic studies.

Table of Contents

1. Religion, Spirituality and Contemporary Shamanic Practice in Scotland - Exploring the Relationships

2. The Impacts of Transformational Cultural Change on Religion and Spirituality

3. Seeking a New Definition of Religion

4. What is Shamanism?

5. A Case Study of Three Shamanic Practice Groups in Scotland

6. Exploring Connections Between Cross-Cultural Shamanic Elements and Neo-Shamanic Expressions in Scotland: Interviews, Participant Observation, and Analysis

7. Applying Hervieu-Léger's Analytical Model of Religion to Reveal a Lineage of Spirituality, not Belief, in the Shamanic Chain of Memory

8. Patterns, Conclusions, and Resulting Issues

9. Seeing Differently - A New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion

Bibliography