Spirituality is in the spotlight. While levels of religious belief and observance are declining in much of the Western world, the number of people who identify as "spiritual but not religious" is on the rise. Practices such as yoga, meditation, and pilgrimage are surging in popularity. "Wellness" regimes offer practitioners a lexicon of spirituality and an array of spiritual experiences. Commentators talk of a new spiritual awakening "after religion." And global mobility is generating hybrid practices that blur the lines between religion and spirituality.The essays collected in Situating Spirituality: Context, Practice, and Power examine not only individual engagements with spirituality, but they show how seemingly personal facets of spirituality, as well as definitions of spirituality itself, are deeply shaped by religious, cultural, and political contexts. The volume is explicitly cross-national and comparative. The contributors are leading scholars of major global regions: North America, Central America, East Asia, South Asia, Africa and the African Diaspora, Western Europe, and the Middle East. They study not only Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, but also non-Abrahamic societies with native as well as transnational sacred traditions.

AcknowledgementsContributorsIntroductionEminently Social Spirituality: Context, Practice, and PowerBrian Steensland, Jaime Kucinskas, Anna SunPart One: Context1. Social Practices and Cultural Contexts: Framework for the Study of SpiritualityNancy Ammerman2. The Gods of Modern SpiritualityLinda Woodhead3. Fearful Asymmetry: Rethinking the Boundaries between Religion and SpiritualityAnna Sun4. Trumping the Devil! Engendering the Spirituality of the Marketplace within Africa and the African DiasporaAfe Adogame5. Methodological Innovations for the Study of SpiritualityBradley Wright6. Shifts in Spiritual and Religious Self-Perceptions in the First Year of CollegeAlyssa N. Rochenbach7. Spirituality among African Americans: Inter-Racial and Intra-Racial Differences across Followers of Various Religious TraditionsJason SheltonPart Two: Practice8. The Micro-interactive Order of SpiritualityMichael Pagis9. Ecstasies: Or, the Limitations of Vanilla Spirituality StudiesMelissa Wilcox10. Textures of Spirituality in Rural MalawiAnn Swidler11. Gifts, Weapons, and Values: The Language of Spirituality in 21st Century Central AmericaRobert BrennemanPart Three: Power12. Everything is Connected: Relocating Spiritual Power from Nature to SocietyStef Aupers13. Yoga Spirituality in the Context of U.S. InstitutionsCandy Gunther Brown14. Training Spiritual Caregivers: Spirituality in Chaplaincy Programs in Theological EducationWendy Cage, Beth Stroud, Patrick K. Palmer, George Fitchett, Trace Haythorne, Casey Clevenger15. Spirituality and Islam: Sufism in IndonesiaRachel Rinaldo16. The Transmission of Spirituality in Broader Landscapes of PowerJaime KucinskasConclusion17. Three Questions About Spirituality: Its Meaning, Influence, and FutureBrian SteenslandIndex