Bibliography 2: #BIB36291

Key	BIB36291
Reference type	Thesis
Title	Development of Religious Identity among the First Norwegian Converts to the Baha'i Faith in Terms of Engagement in Civic Activities
Author	Azadi, Nabil
Year	2017
Place published	Oslo
Abstract	This thesis presents an empirical study of how ethnic Norwegian converts to the Baha'i Faith put their Baha'i identities into practice while engaging in civic activities within the local Baha'i community and the society at large. It demonstrates how being, doing, and knowing aspects of the informants' religious identities undergo changes while they are involved in activities. It also discusses how the components of the religious identity influence each other. The approach of the thesis is a qualitative one making use of in-depth interviews and mixed questionnaires, which include both definitive and open-ended questions. I employ the snowball sampling technique. The number of respondents totals ten, comprising eight women and two men. I have adopted content analysis as the method to interpret data. In order to carry out the research, I have used a socio-psychological approach. Marcia's psychological study, on the one hand, assists me in dividing religious identity into two general aspects of commitment and exploration. Warburg's (2006) theory on religious identity, on the other hand, helps me to divide each aspect of commitment and exploration into three parts namely: being, doing and knowing. This provides me with a basis for analyzing data. Depending on what role religion plays in the lives of the interviewees, the translation of religious identity into practice takes different forms. This is because religion determines what civic activities the informants are allowed to be involved in and what activities are proscribed. In this process, being, doing, and knowing aspects of a religious identity affect each other reciprocally and are affected by social conditions. Activities that the informants are engaged in can have strengthening or weakening effects on identity. In this study, informants are divided into three groups. The first group consists of those who call themselves devoted Baha'is. The second group includes those who feel their Baha'i identities are imperfect. Thirdly, there are those who assume that religion is merely a part of their private and social lives. The members of the first and the third groups, compared to the second group, show more tendency to be involved in formal activities. The second group is less inclined to become involved in comparison to the other two. The third group have been negatively affected by Baha'i activities compared to the others. However, there is a similarity among the three groupings: religious commitment plays a more important role in incentivizing a majority of the informants to participate in activities of the society compared to merely knowing.
Language	English
Keywords	NORWAY; CONVERTS; RELIGIOSITY; SOCIAL ACTION; SOCIOLOGY
Number of pages	110
Thesis type	Master's
Academic department	Theology
University	MF Norwegian School of Theology
Degree	M.A.
Advisor	Iversen, Lars Asmund Laird
File attachments	internal-pdf://1138631092/Azadi (2017) - Religious Identity Norwegian Ba.pdf

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