This forum probes the concept of “innovation” as it relates to religion and spirituality. The essays look to situate the term in scholarly perspectives, tracking its definitions, scope, and boundaries while exploring historical and contemporary examples of innovation in religion and spirituality. While “innovation” is often narrowly construed as novelty, these essays conceive of innovation as one of the ways in which traditions endure, fracture, or reconfigure. The essays examine innovation’s close ties with uncertainty and vulnerability: the essays show how innovating new religious forms can be seen as a kind of entrepreneurship, or or more pointedly as a bid for continued legitimacy in the face of uncertainty, vulnerability, and competition. The essays also inquire about the role of agency: not just in creating innovative religious or spiritual forms but also within a process of validating an innovation’s legitimacy, relevance, and authority. The thematic forum was curated by SSRC staff in the service of promoting new research on the dynamics of innovation in religion and spirituality. Seen collectively, the essays examine the state of the field and point to new directions for further study.
Essays
