“We are not spiritual masters”: Narrative coding and de-coding of power structures
Publication information:
Opalka, Katharina. 2023. “‘We Are Not Spiritual Masters’: Narrative Coding and De-Coding of Power Structures.” in Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract
A prominent narrative of the ecumenical-monastic community of Taizé is “We are not spiritual masters”. The paper aims to show how the coding and de-coding of power structures in this narrative work and in what regard it can enable productive as well as destructive dynamics of spirituality. Taizé is seen as an example par excellence for such contexts of innovative spiritual communities that need to search for new narratives to shape their identities. Furthermore, the paper aims to show the methodology necessary to understand spirituality with regard to its productive and destructive prosperities, namely narrative theory and research on atmospheres.
Presenter bio: Dr. Katharina Opalka is a PostDoc researcher and scholarship holder at Bonn University (Germany), working on productive and destructive prosperities of spirituality by regarding them in the framework of narrative theory and research on atmospheres. Her work is informed by the collaboration in the interdisciplinary research group “Resilience in religion and spirituality”. She completed her doctorate in theology in May 2020 at Bonn University, with a functional perspective on pious practices, namely humility, in the works of the 19th century liberal theologian Albrecht Ritschl. Before starting her doctoral studies she completed her pastoral training in the Protestant-Lutheran Church of Hannover.
Presenter affiliation: Faculty of Protestant Theoloy at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Germany
Presenter bio: Dr. Katharina Opalka is a PostDoc researcher and scholarship holder at Bonn University (Germany), working on productive and destructive prosperities of spirituality by regarding them in the framework of narrative theory and research on atmospheres. Her work is informed by the collaboration in the interdisciplinary research group “Resilience in religion and spirituality”. She completed her doctorate in theology in May 2020 at Bonn University, with a functional perspective on pious practices, namely humility, in the works of the 19th century liberal theologian Albrecht Ritschl. Before starting her doctoral studies she completed her pastoral training in the Protestant-Lutheran Church of Hannover.
Presenter affiliation: Faculty of Protestant Theoloy at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Germany