This study compares and analyzes how religious materiality shapes the practice and experience of faith in Catholicism and Daesoon Jinrihoe through the lens of Material Religion. While traditional studies of religion have tended to focus on doctrines a...
This study compares and analyzes how religious materiality shapes the practice and experience of faith in Catholicism and Daesoon Jinrihoe through the lens of Material Religion. While traditional studies of religion have tended to focus on doctrines and ideas, the approach of Material Religion emphasizes that religion is embodied and realized through material forms. Accordingly, this study investigates the inherent characteristics of religious objects, the modes of interaction between material and human agents, and the religious practices in which materiality becomes manifest. From this perspective, the study explores how material forms function not merely as symbols or secondary mediators but as active participants in concrete religious practices, thereby embodying and enacting the sacred.
In Catholicism, material forms sensorially mediate the presence of God and concretize faith. Sacred objects such as relics and devotional artifacts serve as tangible witnesses to faith and as carriers of sanctity from the past into the present. In the Eucharist, bread and wine undergo transubstantiation and become the body and blood of Christ, through which believers experience a material communion with the Holy Spirit. The devotion of the Stations of the Cross renders the Passion of Christ present in time, while the rosary enables meditative engagement through tactile repetition. Crosses and icons transform ordinary spaces into zones of prayer, purification, and protection. Holy water functions as a material medium, allowing believers to experience sacred power in a sensorial, embodied manner.
In Daesoon Jinrihoe, materiality mediates communication ‘eunggam’ between human practitioners and ‘shinmyeong’ (divine spirits), binding the religious community together. Practitioners regard material forms not as inert objects but as conduits that actualize divine resonance through ritual performance. Objects such as ‘Dungwe’ occupy a central position in the religious history of Daesoon Jinrihoe, signifying legitimate lineage and authority. ‘Nappeji’ (offering papers) operate as media of divine response during recitations of incantations, while ‘Nokmyeongji’ (registration papers) affirm the identity of practitioners during initiation rites. ‘Beopsu’ (ritual water) embodies the spiritual energy of the Supreme God and divine spirits, offering participants a sensorial experience of faith through ingestion. The ritual table, drum, and bell structure time and space as sacred, acoustically marking the presence of divine power and ritual rhythm. Through these practices, the material forms of Daesoon Jinrihoe realize their meanings in time and performance, expanding and materializing religious significance.
Both Catholicism and Daesoon Jinrihoe employ material forms that enable believers to experience faith and sustain religious life through interactions with material agents. Yet their modes of material operation differ. In Catholicism, sacred materials acquire holiness through institutional consecration by clergy and circulate among believers as tangible extensions of faith in everyday life. In contrast, Daesoon Jinrihoe’s religious materials derive meaning primarily from individual devotional practices and emphasize temporal and performative harmony. This contrast reveals distinct ways in which materiality shapes the sensorial and formal dimensions of faith in each tradition.
In conclusion, this study reconsiders religious materiality not as a subordinate means of faith but as an active and constitutive participant in the emergence and performance of belief. Material forms reveal the sacred and enable religious practice through sensorial engagement, while practitioners construct their religious worlds through interactions with these material participants. By comparing the material practices of Catholicism and Daesoon Jinrihoe, this study concretizes the theoretical framework of Material Religion and highlights the need for further inquiry into religion as a material and embodied practice.