Guidelines on Visiting a Religious Community

Diana L. Eck

Field visits to religious communities enable us to learn about religious traditions in a contextual way through the lens of lived religious experience. They also enable us to build relationships with people of the communities we visit. In thinking about the pedagogical and personal goals of field visits, consider these three and then add your own goals.

  1. To learn about particular religious communities through direct observation of their gathered life, either in their regularly scheduled times of worship or in their special events, celebrations, or festivals. To be able to place each particular communities in the wider context of the religious tradition of which it is a part. This you may have to pursue through reading and using the worldwide web.
  2. To deepen our understanding of religion by bringing to our observations a common set of questions about architecture and the creation of sacred space; the visual and verbal symbols of the community; the role of what we call "scripture" in the community; the forms of religious practice that might be called "ritual," the roles of religious leaders and laity.
  3. To develop a more complex view of the changing religious life of the United States through the study of a new range of religious communities.

1. Before you go.

  • If you know nothing of this religious community, do some background reading so that your visit and your observation can be placed in some context. In some cases this background can be found on the CD-ROM, On Common Ground: World Religions in America, especially in the "Profiles" section of each tradition. Check World Religions in Boston, either in hard-copy or on the website of the Pluralism Project (http://www.pluralism.org). You might wish to visit the Pluralism Project office (Vanserg 201) to see if we have a file on the center you will be visiting. The course bibliography, the libraries, and the internet will also be resources for you.
  • Write down your own expectations and preconceptions. What do you imagine you will find? What are your own preconceptions about this religious community? From what you now know, what impressions do you have of the people you are going to meet? What impressions do you imagine they have of people like you?
  • Call ahead to ask if you might visit and to check on times it would be appropriate to come. You may not always succeed in making contact ahead of time, so remember that most communities are very welcoming to visitors. Recognize that you may feel apprehensive in visiting a community. It is natural to feel a bit nervous, and it is a good reminder of what it is to be a stranger in a new context.
  • Because you are a visitor, dress appropriately. In most Hindu and Buddhist temples, Sikh gurdwaras, and Muslim prayer rooms, you will need to remove your shoes. For a mosque visit, women will need to remember to bring a large head scarf. In Orthodox synagogues and some Conservative synagogues, women should also cover their heads. Men are required to wear a head covering known as a yarmulke or kippah in Jewish synagogues. They are available at the entrance to the main sanctuary.

2. When you arrive

  • Introduce yourself to someone. As a visitor, you will need to be courteous and use good common sense. Remember that your status as a visitor and a student gives you the chance to ask questions that will enhance your understanding of the community, its history, and its religious life. You will quickly gain a sense of what is appropriate.
  • Get a sense of how long the service or gathering will be. It is not appropriate to leave before the end of the service if it is a regularly scheduled event. In the case of some communities with more flux and flow in their religious life, you will have more flexibility.
  • As a visitor, you are not required to take part in the rituals of the community, unless you feel comfortable doing so. If you have questions about what is appropriate, ask your hosts.
  • Do not take field notes during the service, but save some time immediately following your visit to write up your notes. You will be able to tell where and when it might be appropriate to take notes inside the center you visit, perhaps before or after the service.
  • Look for bulletins, programs, newsletters, flyers of community events that you might pick up. These convey important information about the community. Study what is on the bulletin boards.

3. Guidelines for Observations

While you are there, observe carefully. Bringing the same set of questions to each visit will give you a protocol for your observations and provide data for some comparative reflections. The following guidelines will help organize your observations, but watch for the new questions that might arise in each context.

  • The Neighborhood. What is the neighborhood in which this center is situated? Is it residential? Commercial? Ethnically distinctive? Who are the neighbors? • The Architecture. What kind of structure does the community gather in? Is it converted from a previous use? What was it before this community moved in? What is the interior space like? Is there part of the building that could be called "sacred space" or a "sanctuary"? Is there a prayer or meditation hall? Is there an altar? Multiple altars? Is there a community hall? Classrooms? Kitchen? Library? Shop? What community activities are suggested by the space?
  • The Community. What kind of community gathers in this place? If it is a religious center made up mostly of immigrants, what can we learn of their backgrounds? Where do they come from? How ethnically and racially diverse does this community seem to be? How many generations are involved? Describe the social interaction of the community before and after the service. What could be learned of the concerns of the community from the service itself? From the bulletin boards? From the program or newsletter?
  • The Event. What kind of event did you attend? Was it regular worship? Prayer? Meditation? A weekly service? A Festival? How did it begin? How was the community gathered together? What happened during the event? What were its primary components? How would you describe the "mood" of the event? How did it end?
  • Religious Roles. What kind of religious leadership is there? Who participated? Men and women? Generations? Is there a designated "clergy"?
  • Religious Symbols. What religious symbols, icons, or images are most prominent? How do members of the community express reverence toward these symbols or hold then in honor?
  • Books. Are there sacred texts? How are they treated, handled? Where are they kept? When are they read? By whom? Are there ritual manuals, song books, or prayer books that are used?
  • Ritual enactments. Are there enactments you would describe as "ritual forms"? There is much that we learn about a community from what is said, but how does the community act out its religious life: bowing, kneeling, standing, embracing, processing, touching, offering, eating? Do these ritual enactments structure the event? Give expression to the community's faith?
  • The Community in the City, and in America. How does this community participate in the neighborhood, the town, the city of which it is a part? Does it seem to be involved with other religious communities in the area? Is it involved in any interfaith efforts or programs? Is it involved in civic or political affairs?

4. Your Field Notes

  • Get a new notebook for your field observations. Your site visits are not over until you have recorded your observations.
  • As soon as you can after visiting the center, sit down and begin to construct your field notes, using the research guidelines as a preliminary structure.
  • Write down your own reflections, questions, and responses as well. How were you received? What questions did you ask? To whom did you speak? What surprised you most? What perplexed you most? How did the impressions you recorded before arriving change during the course of this visit? What questions did you leave with? What did you learn?

5. Write a Reflection Paper

  • Your field notes are not the same as a reflection paper. Your observational notes will provide the kind of information that will help us in our class discussions and will enable you to write your short reflection papers. They will also be important if you write a final paper. The more comprehensive your notes, the more useful they will be to you.
  • There is no single format for the reflection papers, except that they should provide a rich and detailed account of your site visit and a sense of your own voice as an engaged observer. Each reflection paper should also set the particular community you visited in the context of the wider religious tradition of which it is a part. (For example, if you visit the International Buddhist Progress Society on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge, you should set it in the context of the Taiwanese Pure Land movement called Fo Kuang Buddhism of which it is a part, with a word about this form of "Humanistic Buddhism.")


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President and Fellows of Harvard College and Diana Eck. All rights reserved.