Conclusion

In this book we have moved through religious materiality, exploring striking and illuminating cases, guided by attention to material categories, formations, and circulations. We have considered different meanings of materiality. People engage objects; objects engage people; and both people and objects are interwoven in material conditions and consequences that can rise to the level of materiality. Following the usage of the term in the practices of law and accounting, materiality is less a question of metaphysics than a matter of political economy. In this respect, materiality is a matter of force and effect, a configuration of discourse and power that makes a difference in the world. As a result, our exploration of the material dynamics of religion has been as much about dynamics—power, energy, force, and motion—as it has been about material objects....