Malaya Miles

Ammerman- The Materiality of Lived Religion

Pearce and Denton- Profiles of Religiosity in Adolescence

Weekly Response #8

In this week's reading we tackled the main ideas of studying lived religion through

materiality as well as the culturally contested lives of American teenagers. The first

reading by Ammerman focuses on how we as people use material to show lived religion

and explores how this ties to human culture and interaction. The second reading by

Pearce and Denton delves into how the American teenager accepts or rejects religion

and whether or not they live their lives based on religion. Together these readings force

us as Sociologists to further understand the impacts of outside influence and tradition

on religion as a whole.

Ammerman starts off the reading by explaining how to study a lived religion,

which is done through constant observation of the people and material. This chapter

really focuses on how people use material objects to define religion as well as to

continue religion in a traditional sense. No material in our human world has a place or

use unless we assign it a place or use. This is especially true for religious material, it is

given life by the people who cherish the religion. Material objects hold as much

importance as material space, space dedicated to one specific thing; for example,

worship spaces like a sanctuary. Even now in today's world this isn’t confined to four

walls, and religious spaces can be mapped out virtually via video stream, allowing

viewers a space that is dedicated to worship and safe for anyone interested. “In other
words, what we make, how we make it, how it is understood and used all are lodged

within the cultures and interactions of which we are a part and, in turn, shape those

cultures.”(Ammerman 2021, 102). This quote by Ammerman points to the fact that all

material objects and material space are given meaning only through the people who are

experiencing the religion; amulets, rosaries, and other material objects are given

meaning by the people who live the religion and experience it everyday, religion has a

culture of its own. This is further proved when Ammerman states “Each culture defines

the characteristics that will mark material objects as part of religious practice, but it often

takes very ordinary social processes to bring those objects into being.”(Ammerman

2021,106). Overall, the places, objects, and things we do are all tied back into our

culture and the experiences of the people. This means that tradition and knowledge of

our material world is not innate, but everything we have come to know and distinctly

identify has been taught to us by others and their past interpretations.

Delving into the world of American teenagers is never an easy feat, but many

teens are willing and open to sharing their opinion on many controversial or taboo

subjects and religion is no different. This reading by Pearce and Denton focuses on the

results of a survey that represents the content, conduct, and centrality of religiosity in

adolescence in the United States. The results were separated into five categories of

religiosity in adolescents; the Abiders, the Adapters, the Assenters, the Avoiders, and

the Atheists. This classification method accounts for the unique pattern of the religious

lives of teens, and these classes are further explained and studied to prove the

complexity and multidimensional aspects of religiosity. This is seen in the quote “Youth

who do not attend services or youth group meetings regularly should not be assumed to
have reduced commitment to their beliefs. Nor should anyone assume that lower

religious involvement necessarily equates to lower affective religiosity or salience.”

(Pearce and Denton 2011, 56). These authors overall want readers to understand that

there are many layers and characteristics of religiosity and one should not be dismissed

or accepted as religious simply because of what others see them doing, but by their

own merit of practice and personal determination.

Overall, the readings for this week really help us as students to understand the

complexity of everyday life. We as humans give life and meaning to the world around

us, our material world differs from culture to culture and religion to religion because we

all perceive our world differently. It is imperative to recognize the power that we have as

the creators of our world and just how impactful our culture is on religious material and

its importance. Not only are we responsible for creating our material world, but each

individual experiences and perceives our world differently which is why and how culture

exists and evolves over time. The complexity of individual experience is anticipated and

explains how there can be so many different categories of religious people, who may

outwardly appear one way but inwardly feel another.