An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

ethnographies of religious groups such as the present thesis. Healing services are both partof religious ritual, which is part of the communal organisation of society, as well as beingpart of the way some individuals manage their own sick roles.Hill (1973), however, discusses the development of the sociology of religion from theviewpoint of the rejection of religion in favour of sociology. This could imply that as anacademic discipline, sociology (the study of society) is widely accepted across all socialgroups, but the study of religion may not be accepted by all social groups. The cultures andreligious practices of the different social groups are not always recorded in writing andtherefore can only be studied by working and living with various groups to observe howthe members function in different circumstances. Kee (2006) argues that religion is animportant factor in the life and identity of the Caribbean community and as a contextualtheology is a progressive force in the wellbeing of the Black Community.Beckford 1 (1986), and the seminal collection edited by Beckford and Luckman (1989),including researchers like Hill and Zwaga (1989), Jules-Rosette (1989) and Cipriana(1989) examine how different social groups across the world from countries such as Brazil,Africa, Italy, France and Australia apply religion in different forms to everyday life. Theyexplore changes within Catholicism and Islam, faith groups and patterns of religion inNew Zealand, using census data on church membership and the number of denominationsand sub-cultural faith groups to explain the shifts in membership and activities of faithgroups.The role of religion in social change has been examined from within religion by liberation1 This Beckford is J.A.Beckford, the phenomenologist, rather than Robert Beckford, the sociologicaltheologian, who enters the story a little later.37