Dear Colleagues, 

It is our pleasure to announce the launch of a new Special Issue in Religions, which will aim to examine our understanding of religion as a social factor omnipresent in different historical and cultural universes, sense building of the self, and implications in everyday life through spirituality and religiosity analysis.

Religion has been considered a social force by many authors, performing vital functions in such a way that it becomes inseparable from human existence. In the classic work of William James (1902), religion was defined as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine” (p. 31). This can be introduced either in a traditional way, in a formal and non-reflective way that follows the customs, or in an individual way, looking for answers to questions, needs, ideas, and ideals.

It is acknowledged that religious traditions prescribe not only a framework of values but also a set of guidelines for personal life. People often report that their system of values endorses or is influenced by religious trends. However, is this still true today, in our secularized societies? To what extent does religion still influence our sense of self and our society?

It is understood that religiosity is the individual level of commitment to beliefs, doctrines, and practices of a religion. Counterpart expression of religious experience concerns the extent to which an individual believes, follows, and practices a religious doctrine, considering its two regulating poles: Beliefs and religious behaviors.

Both religion and religiosity have an expression resulting in spirituality, namely, the recognition of a nonmaterial force materialized in the search for meaning, unity, and human transcendence. Indeed, spirituality and religiosity have been connected in the search for meaning, solutions, identities, control, comfort, and life transformation. Although many authors refer to religiosity using the term spirituality, the first differs from the latter by reference to a specific doctrinal system of worship of a god and/or other deities, shared with a group.

Concerning the understanding of self, spirituality and religiosity can be conceptualized as coping strategies that propel cognitive balance and hope, especially in difficult life circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic we are facing today. Considering the analysis of the traditional roles of religiosity and its impact on health, risk behaviors, and wellbeing, research about the impact of spirituality in self and society in everyday life is very relevant in the challenging times that we are facing today. This is the motivation behind this Special Issue.

In this Special Issue, new essays and empirical research are welcome on the connection between spirituality/religiosity and self (self-esteem, self-concept, self-regulation, emotional intelligence, psychological capital, etc.), as well as between spirituality/religiosity and groups and society (including secularization, post-secularization, invisible religion, religious pluralism, etc.).

Dr. Lisete Mónico
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• spirituality
• religiosity
• self
• society
• religious beliefs
• religion