Postmodern spirituality

The changing religious field which can be subsumed under the label of postmodern spirituality, is characterised by hybrids, syncretisms and innovations. These are at the centre of research focused on postmodern spirituality. Classic exclusive models of religious affiliation are replaced or supplemented by neu forms of social organisation such as mediation on the market, the establishment of religious networks, open participation structures, multiple affiliations and needs-orientated use of religious offers. This change is taking place under the influence of media, the internet and pervasive processes of aesthetic interventions. An abundance of content, practices and objects permeated with religious semantics are offered in the book market, the market for self-discovery and self-optimisation practices as well as in the media and on the web. An imagined transcendence is often thematised (through the term spirituality) as a power that lies within the human being or as a force that permeates all being. Historical religious rituals and practices are understood to be techniques, which are capable of giving access to the imagined entities.