Occasional Religious Practice: Valuing a Very Ordinary Religious Experience

The pews overflow on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. A mother reaches out to a local church for the first time to request the baptism of her newborn. The death of a public figure is marked with an extravagant funeral at a cathedral. These are all examples of what Sarah Kathleen Johnson calls occasional religious practice. Occasional religious practice is a way of relating to religion that is characterized by participation in religious practices occasionally rather than routinely, most ofte...