• DOI:10.1093/JAAREL/LFM067
• Corpus ID: 469989

Surfing into Spirituality and a New, Aquatic Nature Religion

@article{Taylor2007SurfingIS,
  title={Surfing into Spirituality and a New, Aquatic Nature Religion},
  author={Bron Taylor},
  journal={Journal of the American Academy of Religion},
  year={2007},
  volume={75},
  pages={923 - 951}
}

• Bron Taylor
• Published 1 December 2007
• Philosophy
• Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Soul surfers" consider surfing to be a profoundly meaningful practice that brings physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. They generally agree on where surfing initially developed, that it assumed a religious character, was suppressed for religious reasons, has been undergoing a revival, and enjoins reverence for and protection of nature. This subset of the global surfing community should be understood as a new religious movement—a globalizing, hybridized, and increasingly influential example of what I call aquatic nature religion. For these individuals, surfing is a religious form in which a specific sensual practice constitutes its sacred center, and the corresponding experiences are constructed in a way that leads to a belief in nature as powerful, transformative, healing, and sacred. I advance this argument by analyzing these experiences, as well as the myths, rites, symbols, terminology, technology, material culture, and ethical mores that are found within surfing subcultures.