3 Religion as lived

Believing is one of the things religious people do. People often cite religious texts and teachers as authoritative. However, attention to the lived realities of religious people reinforces an understanding that we are dealing with changeable and contested phenomena. This is part of what makes studying religion exciting. In this section, we will look more closely at the diversity of religious practices. We will be looking at religion as it is lived.

Figure 14 Whirling Dervishes of the Mevlevi Order, Sema ceremony, Saruhan Caravanserai, Sarihan, near Avanos, Cappadocia. Photo: Image Broker/Alamy

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This is a photo of whirling dervishes of the Mevlevi Order in Cappadocia in Turkey. They are dancing in the Sema ceremony in Saruhan Caravanserai. The dervishes are all male. They are dressed in white robes with black cummerbunds around their waist and long skirts that billow as they spin and dance. They are wearing tall beige hats. In the photo, we see five dervishes dancing with their arms aloft. They are dancing on a wooden floor. In the background we can see the musicians playing their instruments. They are similarly dressed but with black robes on. Behind them and to the left of the photo, we see the seated audience of both men and women. The performance is being held in a very large hall with stone walls and ceilings with many arches in the ceilings.

Figure 14 Whirling Dervishes of the Mevlevi Order, Sema ceremony, Saruhan Caravanserai, Sarihan, near Avanos, Cappadocia. Photo: Image ...

In religious studies, we apply methods that would be familiar to colleagues in disciplines like history, anthropology, folklore, literature, sociology and others. These aid us in understanding and discussing the varied phenomena of religion in its historical and contemporary, but always lived, contexts.