Degree Zero of Sacred Places : The Pilgrimage of the Taize Community in France

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  • OKAMOTO Ryosuke
    筑波大学大学院人文社会科学研究科一貫制博士課程

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Other Title
  • 聖地の零度 : フランス・テゼ共同体の事例を中心に
  • セイチ ノ レイド フランス テゼ キョウドウタイ ノ ジレイ オ チュウシン ニ

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Abstract

The Taize Community was founded as an ecumenical religious order by Roger Schutz in the 1940s; the community is also known as the "sacred place of young people." The aim of this article is to examine the dynamism of the pilgrimage to Taize. By doing a comparative analysis of the religious space of Taize, we know that Taize is "degree zero of sacred places." While religious and historical resources are the sources of sacredness in other sacred places and other groups, such as Emmanuel colonizing a sacred place and monopolizing religious representations, Taize eliminates these factors. Taize does not enter into identity politics. The religious spaces of Taize contain many types of religious representations that come from many religious traditions, and the spaces and rituals of Taize are not religiously ordered. In other words, by rejecting a specialized religious rhetoric, Taize offers a sacred place where all types of pilgrims can visit and pray. I came to understand that the "horizontal" interactions with other pilgrims feature the pilgrimage of Taize, while "vertical" meditations feature other pilgrimages. The pilgrims in Taize are known for their positive commitment to activities in the community. Taize does not offer any ready-made religiosity to pilgrims, and each pilgrim needs to access his or her own sacredness through commitment. Individual pilgrims have to choose factors that constitute their own process in the pilgrimage. In short, the sacredness of Taize is articulated and reformed each time, and the source of this renewal is interaction between various pilgrims. In the religious landscape of post-secularization, sacred places increasingly connect various types of pilgrims. In particular, individual religious choice becomes important in the process of pilgrimage. The case of Taize could be a significant pointer in thinking about the mobility and diffusion of contemporary pilgrimages.

Journal

  • Religion and Society

    Religion and Society 15 (0), 3-22, 2009

    The Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society

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