Religiously motivated silence: opportunities for sociological study
Research Article
How to Cite
Spirkina A.K. (2025) Religiously motivated silence: opportunities for sociological study. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 28(1): 181–207 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.8 EDN: CMWFJX
Abstract
The article explores the possibilities of studying silence in a religious context as a social practice included in the continuum of everyday actions of a monk. Understood in such a “down-to-earth”, literal sense, this type of silence can be studied through the methods of participant observation, interviews, and through the analysis of monastery charters and other relevant documents. The Christian practices of silence discussed in the article differ from other “everyday silence” in that they have not only microsociological, but also well-recognized religious, extra-ordinary meaning. The specificity of religiously motivated silence and the discourse in which it exists obliges us to recognize that silence, at least in the minds of practitioners, is divided into “external” — following the norms of silence established in the monastery — and “internal” — the internalized need for silence for one’s own realization in spiritual work. Achieving “inner” silence is the goal of all speech restrictions prescribed in the charter or operating in the monastery tacitly. Despite the need for solitary communication with God, monks most often do not live alone, but form a community. In organizing such a “silent” community, the separation of “external” restrictions and “internal” work plays a special role. Silence, together with “leaving the world”, refusal from society and communication, plays a socializing role for the monk, strengthens and accelerates the process of religious transition. Being included in monastic life as an element of obedience, silence becomes both a socializing practice and the result of the individual’s consolidation in the monastic community.
Keywords:
silence, religiously motivated silence, social practice, monasticism, monastic charter, sociology of everyday life, microsociology
References
Avgustis Iu. (2017) The production of order during rap battles: Managing pauses and their absences. Sotsiologicheskoye obozreniye [Russian sociological review], 3(16): 280–302 (in Russian).
Andreyev A. (2002) Monastic orders: Benedictines, Cistercians, Carmelites, Johannites, Templars, Teutons, Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Jesuits, and others. Moscow: Yevrolints; Kuchkovo pole (in Russian).
Bellah R. (1996) Religion as a symbolic model shaping human experience. In: Garadzha V.I., Rutkevich Ye.D. (comp.) Religion and Society: A Reader on the Sociology of Religion. Moscow: Aspekt Press: 190–193 (in Russian).
Bogdanov K.A. (1997) Essays on the anthropology of silence. Homo Tacens. St. Petersburg: RKHGI (in Russian).
Weber M. (1994) Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions. In: Weber M. Selected Works. The Image of Society. Moscow: Yurist: 7–42 (in Russian).
Harnack A. (1996) Monasticism in Eastern and Western Society. In: Garadzha V.I., Rutkevich Ye.D. (comp.) Religion and Society: A Reader on the Sociology of Religion. Moscow: Aspekt Press: 238–252 (in Russian).
Goffman E. (2003) Frame analysis: an essay on the organization of experience. Moscow: IS RAN (in Russian).
Goffman E. (2009) Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Moscow: Smysl (in Russian).
Gulyaev D.A. (2020) Modern Meditative Practices in Western Christianity: A Search for «The New Spirituality» or a Return to the Sources? Voprosy bogosloviya [Theological Questions], 2(4): 165–188 (in Russian).
Zenets N.G., Chaldyshkina M.V. (2016) Practice of silence in Russian religious tradition as overcoming of selfishness in the human nature. Uspekhi sovremennoj nauki i obrazovaniya [Achievements of modern science and education], 7(5): 36–38 (in Russian).
Kozarezova O.O. (2016) The mystical theology of Gregory Palamas and the Tradition of Hesychasm in the Asceticism of Paisius Velichkovsky. Moscow: Prometey (in Russian).
Corben A. (2020) The History of Silence: From the Renaissance to the Present Day. Moscow: Tekst (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2015a) What sociology have to say about monasticism? Sotsiologicheskoye obozreniye [Russian Sociological Review], 3(14): 153–160 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2015b) The social representation of Christian orthodox monasticism in contemporary Russia. Sotsiologicheskiy zhurnal [Sociological Journal], 3(21): 45–62 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2016) Field work in a monastery: features of participant observation. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii [The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology], 1(19): 59–72 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2019) About “unlucky blueberries” and “birds of heaven”: the paradox of monastic totality. Zhurnal issledovaniy sotsial'noy politiki [The Journal of Social Policy Studies], 3 (17): 331–344 (in Russian).
Noelle-Neumann E. (1996) Public Opinion: Discovery of the Spiral of Silence. Moscow: Progress-Akademiya; Ves mir (in Russian).
Podvoyskiy D.G., Spirkina A.K. (2022) In the quiet..., between people...: silence as a subject of sociological study. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 6: 125–135 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2023a) Constructing sociality in the practice of «silence at the coffin». In: Mikhailin V.Yu. (ed. and comp.) Silence. Interpretation of cultural codes: 2023. Saratov: Nauka: 244–257 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2023b) The role of silence in the production of social order in meditation (on the example of vipassana). Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Sotsiologiya [RUDN Journal of Sociology], 2 (23): 389–403 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2024) Sociological theories of everyday life as a tool for researching silence practices. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 6: 133–143 (in Russian).
Stoeber M. (2015) Exploring Processes and Dynamics of Mystical Contemplative Meditation: Some Christian-Buddhist Parallels in Relation to Transpersonal Theory. In: Shokhin V.K. (ed.) Philosophy of religion: almanac 2014–2015. Moscow: Nauka — Vostochnaya literatura: 15–42 (in Russian).
Schutz A. (2003) On multiple realities. Sotsiologicheskoye obozreniye [Russian Sociological Review], 2(3): 3–34 (in Russian).
Carlin A.P. (2003) On «owning» silence: Talk, texts, and the «semiotics» of bibliographies. Semiotica, 1/4(146): 117–138.
Christensen H.R., Høeg I. M., Kühle L., Nordin M. (2019) Rooms of silence at three universities in Scandinavia. Sociology of Religion, 3(80): 299–322.
Collins R. (2010) The Micro-Sociology of Religion: Religious Practices, Collective and Individual. ARDA Guiding Paper Series. State College, PA: The Association of Religion Data Archives at The Pennsylvania State University. [https://www.thearda.com/categories/arda-papers/guiding-papers/the-micro-sociology-of-religion-religious-practices-collective-and-individual] (accessed: 19.01.2024).
Ehrenhaus P. (1988) Silence and symbolic expression. Communication Monographs, 1(55): 41–57.
Fennell D. (2012) Explorations of Silence in the Religious Rituals of Buddhists and Quakers. Religion, 4(42): 549–574.
Gehl P.F. (1987) Competens silentium: Varieties of monastic silence in the medieval west. Viator, 18: 125–160.
Jewdokimow M., Palmisano S., Budzanowska-Weglenda D. (2020) Loud internal life in a silent community: Towards lived aspects of religious life in a cloistered, female monastery. Social Compass, 3(67): 410–427.
Kurzon D. (1997) Discourse of Silence. Amsterdam — Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Lynch M. (1999) Silence in Context: ethnomethodology and social theory. Human Studies, 22: 211–233.
Molina-Markham E. (2014) Finding the «sense of the meeting»: Decision making through silence among Quakers. Western Journal of Communication, 2(78): 155–174.
Munzer S.R. (2020) Silence as a Christian Experience and Practice. Studia Monastica, 62: 253–274.
Pagis M. (2010) Producing intersubjectivity in silence: an ethnographic study of meditation practice. Ethnography, 11: 309–328.
Pagis M. (2015) Evoking equanimity: silent interaction rituals in vipassana meditation retreats. Qualitative sociology, 1(38): 39–56.
Pagis M. (2019) Sociology of meditation. The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. In: Farias M., Brazier D., Lalljee M. (eds.). New York: 571–589.
Sacks H. (1992) Lectures on conversation. Vol. 1, 2. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Scheff T. (2003) Shame in self and society. Symbolic Interaction, 2(26): 239–262.
Scheff T. (2006) Aggression, hypermasculine emotions and relations: the silence/violence pattern. Irish Journal of Sociology, 15: 24–39.
Schegloff E.A. (2007) Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scott S. (2018) A sociology of nothing: Understanding the unmarked. Sociology, 1(52): 3–19.
Scott S. (2019) The social life of nothing: Silence, invisibility and emptiness in tales of lost experience. New York; Oxford: Routledge.
Stanley S., Smith R.J., Ford E., Jones J. (2020) Making something out of nothing: Breaching everyday life by standing still in a public place. Sociological Review, 6(68): 1250–1272.
Wichroski M.A. (1996) Breaking silence: Some fieldwork strategies in cloistered and non-cloistered communities. Qualitative Sociology, 1(19): 153–170.
Zerubavel E. (2006) The elephant in the room: silence and denial in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.
The elephant in the room: silence and denial in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Andreyev A. (2002) Monastic orders: Benedictines, Cistercians, Carmelites, Johannites, Templars, Teutons, Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Jesuits, and others. Moscow: Yevrolints; Kuchkovo pole (in Russian).
Bellah R. (1996) Religion as a symbolic model shaping human experience. In: Garadzha V.I., Rutkevich Ye.D. (comp.) Religion and Society: A Reader on the Sociology of Religion. Moscow: Aspekt Press: 190–193 (in Russian).
Bogdanov K.A. (1997) Essays on the anthropology of silence. Homo Tacens. St. Petersburg: RKHGI (in Russian).
Weber M. (1994) Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions. In: Weber M. Selected Works. The Image of Society. Moscow: Yurist: 7–42 (in Russian).
Harnack A. (1996) Monasticism in Eastern and Western Society. In: Garadzha V.I., Rutkevich Ye.D. (comp.) Religion and Society: A Reader on the Sociology of Religion. Moscow: Aspekt Press: 238–252 (in Russian).
Goffman E. (2003) Frame analysis: an essay on the organization of experience. Moscow: IS RAN (in Russian).
Goffman E. (2009) Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Moscow: Smysl (in Russian).
Gulyaev D.A. (2020) Modern Meditative Practices in Western Christianity: A Search for «The New Spirituality» or a Return to the Sources? Voprosy bogosloviya [Theological Questions], 2(4): 165–188 (in Russian).
Zenets N.G., Chaldyshkina M.V. (2016) Practice of silence in Russian religious tradition as overcoming of selfishness in the human nature. Uspekhi sovremennoj nauki i obrazovaniya [Achievements of modern science and education], 7(5): 36–38 (in Russian).
Kozarezova O.O. (2016) The mystical theology of Gregory Palamas and the Tradition of Hesychasm in the Asceticism of Paisius Velichkovsky. Moscow: Prometey (in Russian).
Corben A. (2020) The History of Silence: From the Renaissance to the Present Day. Moscow: Tekst (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2015a) What sociology have to say about monasticism? Sotsiologicheskoye obozreniye [Russian Sociological Review], 3(14): 153–160 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2015b) The social representation of Christian orthodox monasticism in contemporary Russia. Sotsiologicheskiy zhurnal [Sociological Journal], 3(21): 45–62 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2016) Field work in a monastery: features of participant observation. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii [The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology], 1(19): 59–72 (in Russian).
Medvedeva K.S. (2019) About “unlucky blueberries” and “birds of heaven”: the paradox of monastic totality. Zhurnal issledovaniy sotsial'noy politiki [The Journal of Social Policy Studies], 3 (17): 331–344 (in Russian).
Noelle-Neumann E. (1996) Public Opinion: Discovery of the Spiral of Silence. Moscow: Progress-Akademiya; Ves mir (in Russian).
Podvoyskiy D.G., Spirkina A.K. (2022) In the quiet..., between people...: silence as a subject of sociological study. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 6: 125–135 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2023a) Constructing sociality in the practice of «silence at the coffin». In: Mikhailin V.Yu. (ed. and comp.) Silence. Interpretation of cultural codes: 2023. Saratov: Nauka: 244–257 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2023b) The role of silence in the production of social order in meditation (on the example of vipassana). Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Sotsiologiya [RUDN Journal of Sociology], 2 (23): 389–403 (in Russian).
Spirkina A.K. (2024) Sociological theories of everyday life as a tool for researching silence practices. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 6: 133–143 (in Russian).
Stoeber M. (2015) Exploring Processes and Dynamics of Mystical Contemplative Meditation: Some Christian-Buddhist Parallels in Relation to Transpersonal Theory. In: Shokhin V.K. (ed.) Philosophy of religion: almanac 2014–2015. Moscow: Nauka — Vostochnaya literatura: 15–42 (in Russian).
Schutz A. (2003) On multiple realities. Sotsiologicheskoye obozreniye [Russian Sociological Review], 2(3): 3–34 (in Russian).
Carlin A.P. (2003) On «owning» silence: Talk, texts, and the «semiotics» of bibliographies. Semiotica, 1/4(146): 117–138.
Christensen H.R., Høeg I. M., Kühle L., Nordin M. (2019) Rooms of silence at three universities in Scandinavia. Sociology of Religion, 3(80): 299–322.
Collins R. (2010) The Micro-Sociology of Religion: Religious Practices, Collective and Individual. ARDA Guiding Paper Series. State College, PA: The Association of Religion Data Archives at The Pennsylvania State University. [https://www.thearda.com/categories/arda-papers/guiding-papers/the-micro-sociology-of-religion-religious-practices-collective-and-individual] (accessed: 19.01.2024).
Ehrenhaus P. (1988) Silence and symbolic expression. Communication Monographs, 1(55): 41–57.
Fennell D. (2012) Explorations of Silence in the Religious Rituals of Buddhists and Quakers. Religion, 4(42): 549–574.
Gehl P.F. (1987) Competens silentium: Varieties of monastic silence in the medieval west. Viator, 18: 125–160.
Jewdokimow M., Palmisano S., Budzanowska-Weglenda D. (2020) Loud internal life in a silent community: Towards lived aspects of religious life in a cloistered, female monastery. Social Compass, 3(67): 410–427.
Kurzon D. (1997) Discourse of Silence. Amsterdam — Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Lynch M. (1999) Silence in Context: ethnomethodology and social theory. Human Studies, 22: 211–233.
Molina-Markham E. (2014) Finding the «sense of the meeting»: Decision making through silence among Quakers. Western Journal of Communication, 2(78): 155–174.
Munzer S.R. (2020) Silence as a Christian Experience and Practice. Studia Monastica, 62: 253–274.
Pagis M. (2010) Producing intersubjectivity in silence: an ethnographic study of meditation practice. Ethnography, 11: 309–328.
Pagis M. (2015) Evoking equanimity: silent interaction rituals in vipassana meditation retreats. Qualitative sociology, 1(38): 39–56.
Pagis M. (2019) Sociology of meditation. The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. In: Farias M., Brazier D., Lalljee M. (eds.). New York: 571–589.
Sacks H. (1992) Lectures on conversation. Vol. 1, 2. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Scheff T. (2003) Shame in self and society. Symbolic Interaction, 2(26): 239–262.
Scheff T. (2006) Aggression, hypermasculine emotions and relations: the silence/violence pattern. Irish Journal of Sociology, 15: 24–39.
Schegloff E.A. (2007) Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scott S. (2018) A sociology of nothing: Understanding the unmarked. Sociology, 1(52): 3–19.
Scott S. (2019) The social life of nothing: Silence, invisibility and emptiness in tales of lost experience. New York; Oxford: Routledge.
Stanley S., Smith R.J., Ford E., Jones J. (2020) Making something out of nothing: Breaching everyday life by standing still in a public place. Sociological Review, 6(68): 1250–1272.
Wichroski M.A. (1996) Breaking silence: Some fieldwork strategies in cloistered and non-cloistered communities. Qualitative Sociology, 1(19): 153–170.
Zerubavel E. (2006) The elephant in the room: silence and denial in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.
The elephant in the room: silence and denial in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Article
Received: 01.10.2024
Accepted: 25.03.2025
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Spirkina, A.K. 2025. Religiously motivated silence: opportunities for sociological study. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 28, 1 (Mar. 2025), 181–207. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.8.
Section
Sociology of Religion
" />
