Female Religiosity in Self-Narration: Some Indicative Elements and Suggestions from Empirical Materials

This study stems from a collection of autobiographical narrations collected
during a seminar held in February 2018 involving a small group of adults, representing
the three major monotheistic religions: Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. The seminar was
organized by the University of Bologna (Department of Arts) in collaboration with the
Association for Interreligious Dialogue “Abramo e Pace”. The aim of this paper is to reexamine the autobiographical narratives that emerged from the seminar, with a particular
focus on the characteristics of female religious experiences in these religions, in order to
identify distinctive trans-religious and transcultural signs. For this analysis, a sub-group
of participants were selected, consisting of nine women, three Catholics, three Jews, and
three Muslims, mainly between the ages of 35 and 45. The methodology used is a content
analysis, which allows for a detailed examination of the narratives shared. From the
narratives obtained, the religious education received in childhood and early adolescence
emerges as a resource and support for the construction of personal identity regardless of
the subsequent life paths taken by the individual. An additional pedagogical/educational
theme of interest is represented by the intertwining of transformations of personal religiosity
and dynamics of adult transformation, which is present in these narrations. Although the
results do not aim for statistical representativeness, it is expected that the analysis will
reveal certain constants that could inform subsequent, more systematic research efforts.
In particular, it is expected that marriage, motherhood, and the education of children will
emerge as moments of reactivation or revitalization of personal religiosity.