Individual sensory experiences, socialized senses, and everyday lived religion in practice

Building on the conference theme, Sensing Religion', this article argues that the sociology of religion needs to pay attention to sensory experiences. Our discipline has traditionally focused on religion's cognitive qualities - beliefs, creeds, and theologies - along with its organizational structures. By and large, we have failed to encounter, much less think about, other aspects of religion, particularly those that involve the senses. We have treated them as epiphenomenal, not central to religious life. This will no longer do. Examining religion as it is actually lived requires an attention to sensory religious experiences, as they are a core part of religious practice. Doing so requires, however, that we learn how to attune ourselves to that experience. Otherwise, we will fail to perceive the experiences that people actually encounter. This presentation provides some practical guidance about how to do this. It also presents diverse examples of embodied religious practices for which sensory experience is essential.