Occasional Religious Practice in Context

Abstract Occasional religious practice is best understood both in historical context and in the context of the contemporary religious landscape. Occasional religious practice is not a new phenomenon, as examples from the early Christian, medieval, early modern, and modern periods suggest. However, it is a dominant way in which people relate to Christianity in the Global North in the twenty-first century, based on a review of the literature on religious change in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. Although it has parallels in various religious landscape studies that examine contemporary religion, nonreligion, and spirituality, these studies tend to group occasional practice in categories that are also defined by other measures of affiliation and belief. Separating occasional religious practice from these factors recognizes and examines it as a phenomenon in its own right and as a widespread, internally diverse, and substantial way of relating to religion.