Spiritual Community, Sacred Congregation: Ritual, Discourse, and Space in the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta Open Access

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic account of the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta. This congregation, founded in 1976, meets on Sunday mornings in its sanctuary in Candler Park, Atlanta for Celebrations of Life. Those who attend these gatherings represent a diverse array of religions, races, socioeconomic classes, belief systems, and identities that then come together as one congregation on Sunday mornings. There is a tension that arises in this space between the individual subjectivities that populate the sanctuary and the oneness of the congregational body. This paper interrogates this tension in three realms of ethnographic material: ritual, discourse, and space. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that the radical acceptance of multiplicity becomes that which holds this heterogenous congregation together.

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………1

The Field…………………………………….………………………………………………………………..……............4

Methodology………………………………….….……………………………..……………………………….............10

A Theoretical Conversation…………………………………………………………………………..............………12

Chapter One

Ritual: Social Coherence and Subjective Creativity……………………………………..…………...........……….24

Photographic Essay

Sensory Existentialism………………………………………………………………………………...……………………38

Chapter Two

Gendered Discourse: Narratives of Conversion and Feminist Politics………….......…….................……...53

Chapter Three

Space: Structure, Fluidity, and Aesthetic Auspiciousness…………………………….…..………............……..70

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………......87

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Anthropology and Religion
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Spirituality Anthropology, Cultural Religion, Comparative
Keyword	Spirituality Congregation Community Existentialism Feminism
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Anna Grimshaw, Emory University
Committee Members	Alicia DeNicola, Emory University Joyce Flueckiger, Emory University

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