Church Discourses and Identity. Application of discursive approaches for sociological study of religious identities in Christian communities

Abstract

The Russian sociology of religion studies religious identity primarily through quantitative features of religiosity. At the same time, researchers pay little attention to the theoretical definition of identity. The article aims to fill this lacuna. Based on discursive approaches, it offers a theoretical description of identity as a linguistic phenomenon. The author relies on the concepts of discourse and identity, proposed in the works of Foucault, Fairclough, Laclau and Mouffe. In the beginning the article gives a general description of the identity understanding of identity within the framework of discursive approaches, and focuses on the following aspects: definition of discourse, mechanisms of identity formation in discourse, role of agency and subjectivity in the process of identity building. Discursive identity is described as open to changes. Further ideas developed within the framework of discursive approaches are used to describe the characteristics of religious identity as discursive. The author shows that the understanding of identity as a linguistic phenomenon moves the research focus from the quantitative description of religiosity to the analysis of various communicative practices existing within Christian communities. That can be as an analysis of sermons, analysis of conversations between members of the community (conversation analysis), and analysis of Christian media