ChristianMargiChristian Margins

The research project investigates how perceptions of Christianity and Christian practices are renewed and transformed through interactions between the "mainstream" and the "margins" of Christian traditions in Finland. The study focuses particularly on how Christianity emerges and takes shape in relation to alternative spiritual and healing practices—such as yoga, mindfulness, reiki, and natural therapies. By examining these intersections, the project offers new insights into how Christianity and alternative spiritualities influence and intermingle with one another. It aims to understand how the meanings of Christianity are lived, interpreted, and reshaped in people's everyday lives, language, and practices within these alternative contexts—and how Christianity, in turn, leaves its mark on the field of alternative spirituality. Methodologically, the project combines discourse analysis with ethnographic research to explore these dynamics both in language and in lived experience.

2025

2029