“TO KNOW, TO WILL, TO DARE AND TO … SPEAK UP!” DEVELOPMENT, SELF-DISCLOSURE, AND SELF-VALIDATION OF BELIEF IN DUTCH-SPEAKING PAGANS Cover Image
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“TO KNOW, TO WILL, TO DARE AND TO … SPEAK UP!” DEVELOPMENT, SELF-DISCLOSURE, AND SELF-VALIDATION OF BELIEF IN DUTCH-SPEAKING PAGANS
“TO KNOW, TO WILL, TO DARE AND TO … SPEAK UP!” DEVELOPMENT, SELF-DISCLOSURE, AND SELF-VALIDATION OF BELIEF IN DUTCH-SPEAKING PAGANS

Author(s): Léon A. Van Gulik
Subject(s): Anthropology, Customs / Folklore, Theology and Religion, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Social Theory
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: contemporary Paganism; religious experience; self-validation; ritual; interviews; Flanders; the Netherlands;

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I will focus on the problem of the self-validation of belief as a typical mode of making sense of alleged encounters with the divine in a ritual context. Drawing on examples taken from semi-structured interviews with Dutch Pagans, I will touch upon motives of self-actualisation and aesthetic appraisal in the process of interpreting these ritual experiences in an idiosyncratic fashion. I will then discuss the problem of self-disclosure. Finally, I will proceed to tie self-validation in with two competing theories on the nature of ritual knowledge. The ‘variation-theory’ understands knowledge as emergent only from gradually changing rituals, while the ‘masterpiece-theory’ emphasises the need for repetitive exposure to a ritual, gradually incorporating its essence.

  • Issue Year: 56/2011
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 129-137
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English