ABSTRACT
Sociology can better understand the linkages between the individual and society by carefully analyzing how individuals make sense of their social worlds and act accordingly. The very notion of being ‘spiritual-but-not religious’, likewise, seems as though it could happen only in a modern, complex society. The apparent disintegration of what Luckmann calls the ‘great transcendences’ may have had an impact mainly on the individual religions of those who expect those great transcendences to order, with consistency and unity, their personal experiences of transcendence. Clark Roof makes a crucial mistake, however, by uncritically accepting the self-identification of spirituality and religiosity as the basis for his sociological interpretation. The contemporary rhetoric of spirituality reflects the extremes of privatization of individuals’ religion in the context of advanced pluralism. The chapter presents four key elements shared by both contemporary and earlier forms of popular spirituality. These include: religious eclecticism, materiality, pragmatic concerns, and blurred boundaries between the sacred and profane.
