Gordon Lynch

'This is our life': strong evaluation in psychotherapy narrative

This paper examines the relevance of both client and counsellor conceptions of the ‘good life’ in relation to a narrative analysis of the first session of a case of successful client-centred therapy.In this opening session, the client embeds her ‘problem’ story within contrasting cultural narratives of what it means to live a good life. The therapist discourse also consistently draws upon a therapeutic meta-narrative that conveys an implicit story of how to live life well. This material is discussed from the perspective of the concept of ‘strong evaluation’ offered by the philosopher CharlesTaylor.Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Mainstream Post-Rave Club Scene As a Secondary Institution: A British Perspective

This article focuses on the importance of analysing the mainstream post-rave dance scene in the context of studies of the religious significance of electronic dance cultures. Drawing on their own ethnographic research, as well as other recent comparable studies in Britain, the authors argue that the mainstream post-rave dance scene is a ‘secondary institution’ supporting the new social form of religion identified by Luckmann, which emphasises self-realisation and self-expression. The study serves as an invitation to re-consider the definition of ‘religion’ in relation to electronic dance cultures and points to the role of mainstream leisure industries in supporting contemporary secular worldviews.

Therapeutic Theory and Social Context: A Social Constructionist Perspective.

This paper explores the formation of therapeutic theory from the perspective of social constructionism. A theoretical description of the interaction between an individual and their social context in the formation of therapeutic theory is proposed. This description is then explored in relation to the early life and subsequent therapeutic theory of Carl Rogers. The wider implication of this discussion for therapeutic theory is noted.

The mediatisation of religion debate: An introduction

Within the growing literature on religion and media, a more specific debate has recently developed in relation to the mediatisation of religion. The Danish scholar, Stig Hjarvard, has undertaken leading work in articulating a detailed theory of the mediatisation of religion, arguing that contemporary religion is increasingly mediated through secular, autonomous media institutions and is shaped according to the logics of those media. This special issue is the first extended discussion of Hjarvards thesis by researchers working across different disciplines and areas of study. This introduction sets out the background and key concepts for this debate, discusses why the mediatisation of religion debate is important for sociological and cultural understandings of contemporary religion, and provides a brief summary of the arguments of the individual articles within this collection.

What can we Learn from the Mediatisation of Religion Debate

The criticisms of Hjarvards theory of mediatisation presented in the articles of this special issue indicate that it may only be applicable to particular religious, historical, social and political contexts. More specifically, Hjarvards theory seems most relevant to societies characterised by the prevalence of non-confessional media institutions, declining direct public engagement with religious institutions, the association of religious authority with specific traditional institutions and wider evidence of secularisation. His theory, therefore, has more explanatory power for Northern and Western, de-Christianised societies, than for other times and places. Although Hjarvards theory may help us to understand some specific contexts, the mediatisation of religion debate helps to clarify the structures and relationships that need to be examined if we are to develop a wider range of models of religion, media and social change. These include the intersections between religious and media institutions, technologies, cultural frames, sacred forms, publics, shared communicative spaces, power, stratification and significant social agents. This article concludes with comments about the implications of this framework for future research.

Pastoral Counselling in Britain: An Introduction.

A brief historical survey is given of the development of pastoral counselling in Britain. The positive contribution and qualities of the British pastoral counselling movement are acknowledged, but it is also recognised that the pastoral counselling scene in Britain is deeply fragmented and the causes of this fragmentation are briefly discussed. The articles in this symposium are welcomed as a sample of current thinking within British pastoral counselling. Four of the articles are fundamentally concerned with the nature and identity of pastoral counselling as a discipline, and another two explore specific elements of therapeutic practice (namely, prayer and forgiveness) that are historically associated with pastoral care. The presentation of original empirical research within some of these articles is also welcomed as a constructive development in the context of British pastoral literature.

‘We Are All One, We Are All Gods’: Negotiating Spirituality in the Conscious Partying Movement

Research literature has been growing over the past five years which explores the religious significance of electronic dance music cultures. This article adds to this work by offering an analysis of spiritual discourses used within a particular underground dance scene in the UK, the ‘conscious partying’ movement. An ethnographic account is given of a typical dance night within this scene, which demonstrates how these spiritual discourses are embedded within a range of musical, artistic, therapeutic, and political networks and practices. The use and salience of spiritual discourses of oneness, energy, and immediatism within this scene are then analysed. It is argued that the conscious partying scene in the UK reflects spiritual ideas and practices within the wider global psy-trance music scene and that this study demonstrates the importance of ethnographic research for examining the complex ways in which such broader spiritual discourses may be negotiated within specific groups. The article concludes by identifying possible future research that explores in more depth the relationships between spiritual discourses, the aural properties of electronic dance music, and embodied practices of dance.

Introduction: Belief as Cultural Performance

Abstract Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural, and national contexts to suggest more complex ways in which belief might be conceptualised and researched. While the ‘authenticity’ of belief is a significant value for young people across these cases, the authors show how belief can, in different contexts, be a marker of identity, an expression of socially significant relationships or an organising centre for the lives of individuals and groups. Belief can also be understood as the performance of embodied practices shaped by one’s spatial and cultural environment. In this wider context, training young people in propositional forms of belief is shown to be a particular kind of religious project, which can be unstable and have unintended consequences.

The Application of Self-psychology to Short-term Counselling.

This article explores how key aspects of Heinz Kohuts self-psychology can inform short-term counselling work. Initially a summary is offered of Kohuts developmental theory, his understanding of the nature and causes of psychopathology and his view of the analytic cure. The application of his ideas to short-term counselling is then discussed. Specifically, it is suggested that short-term therapeutic work based on self-psychology involves a stronger emphasis on the curative aspects of the selfobject transference between client and therapist, a more limited notion of the role of interpretation, and a different understanding of working through to that of long-term self-psychological analysis.

The sociology of the sacred: A conversation with Jeffrey Alexander

Over the past 20 years, Jeffrey C. Alexander has been a leading social theorist and a pioneer of the ‘strong program’ in cultural sociology, which emphasises the significance of cultural structures of meaning for social life. Following an introductory overview of his work, this article records a public conversation with Alexander about the role and significance of the concept of the sacred in his sociological work. Issues addressed in this conversation include situating Alexanders interest in the sacred in his intellectual biography (including his significant intellectual influences), the mistrust of the concept of the sacred within the wider sociological community, the universality of cultural structures of sacred meaning, the limitations of sociological analysis focused on sacred meaning and methodological approaches to the study of the sacred.