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Media and religion in transition 83

eschewal of such traditions, might well put them in the position to look to
sources in the broader culture for resources. But, interestingly, they share
some significant sensibilities with other of the categories as well. The meta-
physical group shares with the mainstreamers, and to an extent the
born-agains, an orientation toward individual – and away from institu-
tional or clerical – logics for organizing their spiritual lives.
As we move on to an investigation of religious or spiritual meaning-
making in the media age, we will use Roof’s categories, though not only as
an inductive structure against which to classify our interviews and the
results from those interviews. Instead, they may help us look at the narra-
tives of self we will encounter and understand the evolving religious
cultures they represent. As Roof himself does, we will try to understand
how these narratives result from a mixture of history, self-consciousness,
identity-building, aspiration, and practices in daily life and daily experi-
ence. We will look for what is intended and aspired to in terms of the
religious and spiritual lives we will encounter here, and, in keeping with
Roof and Warner, be most interested in what is achieved as well as what is
ascribed by received categories. In the next chapter, we will begin this
process by reflecting on the challenges of engaging in this kind of research
into meaning-making in the media age.