Challenges of Lived Religion Research during “Gender Wars”. the Case of Study of Lithuanian Catholic and Lutheran Women’s Agency and Leadership

There has long been a perception in social sciences that secular people have the most agency and religious women have the least. The notion of false consciousness has been used to describe religious women. From a traditional secular point of view, agency lies in deliberate action, individual autonomy and freedom. Scholars of lived religion approach have dug deeper into the essence of agency, recognizing its modality and different forms, which go beyond the conventional secular understanding. The ”secular” and ”religious” concepts of agency reflect a dichotomy between the secular and the religious, as the former is often presented as rational, progressive, and associated with public and male sphere, while the latter is seen as irrational, backward, and associated with private and female sphere.

The case of lived religion research on the Lithuanian Catholic and Lutheran women’s agency and leadership unsurprisingly reveal the complexity of the religious and the secular as reflected in the religious women’s narratives about the image of God and their relationship with God, their multiply leadership in church, professional career, family and elsewhere, their agency (non)provided by religion for leadership and life in general or attitudes on gender and sexuality.

This study still uncovers the ethical and moral challenges faced by the researcher, when doing research in the conservative religious organisations, where women are not ordained (also in the Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran church), but still find the space for their leadership and agency. The sources of the latter also prove to be very complex, including individual autonomy, feminist aspirations as well as religious goals of piety, morality, the observance of religion, etc. The researcher correspondingly should navigate while constructing the initial research design, interviewing women and analysing the results of the fieldwork data.