Space for God: Lived Religion at Work, Home, and Play

Despite modernity's attempt to structure religion out of many social domains, people still make space for God—the sacred, spirituality, religion, transcendence, etc.—in their everyday lives. Religion may be less apparent at times, but it is not altogether absent and continues to show up beyond its taken-for-granted boundaries. Drawing from photo elicitation interview materials generated by the Spiritual Narratives in Everyday Life project, I explore the ways in which religion and spirituality intersect with the domains of home, work, and leisure. At first blush, photos of homes, bedrooms, offices, beaches, pets, and gardens do not appear to be enchanted. But when one looks to the stories behind the photos, it becomes evident that the meanings these narratives convey and actions they evoke push back against the social structure as individuals leverage contextual features of everyday life to construct space for God.