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Book Review: William B. Parsons, Being Spiritual but Not Religious; Past, Present, Future(s)

While large sectors of religion in North America and Europe continue to decline in the number of self-defined adherents, as well as in other ways, the result is not necessarily a less religious and more secular public. Moreover, religiosity is not necessarily found only in the sectors of growth in institutional religion, sectors which are typically evangelical. The number of people who selfidentify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR), along with people who share SBNR characteristics but do not self-identify as such, is growing and constitutes one of the fastest growing areas of religion. In spite of the “not religious” part of the SBNR label, this sector is a part of the religious landscape and is redefining that landscape. This edited volume, guided by William Parsons, contributes to the understanding of this aspect of religious identity. Consisting of fifteen chapters, the book has a helpful introduction that prepares the reader for the individual analyses of each following chapter. The introductory chapter outlines of definitions and historical summary, including a sketch of predecessors to contemporary SBNR movements. These predecessors include theosophy, New Thought, Protestant Liberalism, and US democratic thought, among others. Intellectual predecessors and influences include, naturally, William James and Carl Jung. Though the SBNR are often described as being non-institutional and unattached to religious communities, they are attached to communities and institutions: ones other than historic churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. The SBNR institutions and communities include bookstores with author talks, meditation centers with weekend retreats, and a constellation of Jung centers and societies across the nation, among other entities. Institutions exist for the SBNR community, and community exists in the retreats and workshops these institutions sponsor. Parsons’ edited volume contains analytical studies by current religious studies scholars with already established scholarship in the field of SBNR identity. The book rests on a number of methodological approaches, including historical and ethnographical studies. Moreover, in three sections corresponding to its subtitle, the book explores the history or antecedents of the movement, its present manifestations, and projections of its future developments. The book identifies the shared characteristics of SBNR adherents, which include a high level of education and strong senses of individualism and autonomy. The movement has shared beliefs, which include affirmations and redefinitions of transcendence and immanence, explored in detail in Linda Mercandante’s helpful chapter—ideas that she explores in depth in her expanded study of the SBNR community. The book closes with a contribution by Jeffrey Kripal that functions implicitly as a synthesizing conclusion. Kripal proposes that the so-called neutral methodology of comparative studies contributes to our understanding of SBNR phenomena, while at the same time it contributes to the growth and development of the movement. It could be that SBNRs have a participant theological method: modern religious studies. Kripal suggests as much here, as well as in his other important related studies (see Jeffrey J. Kripal, Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion [Chicago: University of Chicago Press], 2007; and Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions [Chicago: University of Chicago Press], 2017). Those wanting to understand SBNR persons and movements, as well as this area of current vital religious identity, should consult this study.