Bonding During the Night of the Churches Converging and Differing Experiences of Churchgoers and Non-Churchgoers
How should we understand the paradoxical phenomenon that people are showing substantial interest in new events organized by the church in a western-European society that is characterized by dwindling church attendance? An explorative questionnaire study among churchgoers (n = 1016) and non-churchgoe...
| Published in: | Archive for the psychology of religion |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2016
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| In: |
Archive for the psychology of religion
Year: 2016, Volume: 38, Issue: 1, Pages: 47-71 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Netherlands
/ Church congregation
/ Lange Nacht
/ Participation in
/ Church membership
/ Secularism
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| RelBib Classification: | CH Christianity and Society KBD Benelux countries |
| Further subjects: | B
Night of the Churches
ecclesial practices
spirituality
religiosity
religious experience
bonding
community
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | How should we understand the paradoxical phenomenon that people are showing substantial interest in new events organized by the church in a western-European society that is characterized by dwindling church attendance? An explorative questionnaire study among churchgoers (n = 1016) and non-churchgoers (n = 317) was conducted who chose to attend the so-called Night of the Churches in the Netherlands. The majority of the respondents indicated that they experience the Night of the Churches to be a qualitatively different phenomenon from other festivals (e.g., museum night or music festival). Our data suggest that for both churchgoers and non-churchgoers shared bonding experiences (e.g., a special feeling of connectedness, contact with a higher spirit, together with unknown people) are what makes a Night of the Churches unique. Additionally, the results reveal that this event hardly changed respondents’ image of the church and that more churchgoers (22%) than non-churchgoers (13%) were interested in new forms of being church. Again, shared bonding experiences make the difference when it comes to being open to new ways of being church. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6121 |
| Contains: | In: Archive for the psychology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15736121-12341317 |