Spiritualities of the Displaced: An Ethnographic Study of Homeless Lived Faith by Cynthia Curtis Department of [Department] Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ [Supervisor Name], Supervisor ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2013 ABSTRACT Spiritualities of the Displaced: An Ethnographic Study of Homeless Lived Faith by Cynthia Curtis Department of [Department] Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ [Supervisor Name], Supervisor ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] ___________________________ [Committee Member Name] An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2013 Copyright by Cynthia Curtis 2013 v Abstract My dissertation is a project of practical theology that starts with the problem of homelessnesss. It seeks to better understand the lived faith of homeless persons by listening to the voices of the extreme poor. It asserts that one common feature of homelessness is loss, particularly the loss of being accepted as fully human. This plays out in stigmatization and shame, whereby homeless persons are treated and can come to perceive themselves as transgressors matter out of place. Using an ethnographic method and a situational analysis of social worlds, I participated in and observed three homeless social worlds at a downtown church in Nashville: a midweek worship service, a street paper, and a weekly support group. I also used a photo-elicitation process to discover how the homeless found sacred spaces and held onto sacred things as they lived on the streets. Because it is important to understand the larger historic and socioeconomic forces and material realities impacting the lived faith of the homeless, I also describe the making of the places of Nashville, the church, and the three social worlds. Besides participation-observation fieldnotes, my data primarily came from interviews with 40 homeless and formerly homeless persons as well as the leaders of each social world. I conclude with a theological reading and evaluation of the church’s homeless social worlds according to my own theological normative claims of the homeless person being beloved and nourishing a sense of his or her agency. Using Rowan Williams and Sandra Schneiders, I work toward an adequate definition of spirituality that allows for attention to the radically different lives of homeless persons who typically remain invisible to most Christians and academic theology, and I make a case for spirituality as a viable analytical concept in practical theology and as a discipline in theological education. iv To the homeless who shared their stories with me to make this project possible and to all my friends, teachers, and family who supported me along the way v Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Seeing a face among the homeless: Coyote…………..…………………………………..........1 Beginning to address the "wound" of homelessness: its features and a definition…………….7 Stigma: A state of dis-grace…………………………………………………………………..15 Feeling dis-grace: Shame and its relationship to Stigma……………………………………..22 Filling a Gap in Theological and Sociological Literature……………………………………..28 Listening to the Homeless: Ethnography from Sociology and Theology……………..............40 Sample and Interviews………………………………………………………………………...48 Overview……………………………………………………………………………..………..53 Chapter 1. Telling the Tale: Placing Nashville, Placeing the Out-of-Place…………………...64 Whose Place? Whose Progress?………………………………………..…………………...64 Nashville, 1789-1915……………………………………………………………………..…69 1950-2012: Placing the homeless in Nashville today………………………………..……...80 Conclusion: A Theological Reading of this Tale…………………………………………..110 Chapter 2. Formation Practices of DPC and its Homeless Social Worlds……...…………...120 The Place of DPC Emerges……………………………………………………………….. 122 The Homeless Social World of Wednesday Worship .......................................................... 137 Igniting Fighting Spirits: The Living Room………………………………………………..149 The Contributor…………………………………………………………………………….157 DPC: “The one-stop shop” for the homeless and a “church on fire”?..................................168 Chapter 3. The Homeless Social World of the Living Room at DPC…………………………..176 vi The Living Room as an alternative to church ...................................................................... .179 “I feel like a family presence, a family thing”: Community……….………………………..183 “A safe place to tell my story”: Empathetic Listening…………………...……..…….. ……184 Having “a shoulder to lay his head on”: Sleeping…………………………………………..194 “I can vent here”: Lamenting……………………………………………………………….199 “Thank you for the Living Room, making a way out of no way”: Hoping………...............206 Challenges to the Living Room being a faithful place for the homeless…………………...218 Chapter 4. The DPC Wednesday Worship Service for the Homeless………………………….229 Chapter 5. The Contributor Vendors: Work on Street Corners as Sites of Lived Faith………..274 Chapter 6. Music Row, Dogs, and Tattoos: Sacred Spaces and Things of the Homeless in Nashville……………………………………………………………………………318 Sacred Spaces Revealing God’s Absence and God’s Protective Presence…………………325 Sacred Spaces of Feeling at Home: Country Music Row…………………………………..330 Sacred Space found in Creativity…………………………………………………………...338 Sacred Space found in the Natural World: Sky, Water, High Places, and Trees………………………………………………………………………………………...340 Sacred Space in Companionship of Non-human Creatures…………………………………350 Sacred Space found in Caring Interactions and in the Body………………………………..366 Making the Body a Sacred “Memory Place”: Tattoos as Embodied Spiritual Practice……..374 Conclusion: Spiritualities of the Displaced ................................................................. ………….393 Who is the Real Evangelist?…………………………………………………………………398 Working to a Definition of Spirituality……………………………………………………..420 Spirituality’s Viability as an Academic Discipline and Concept of Study…………………436 Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………446 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….459 vii Biography………………………………………………………………………………………..482 viii List of Figures Figure 1.1: RITI (Campus for Human Development)…………………………………………..117 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.2: Statue “breaking bread” at RITI……………………………..................118 Figure 2.1: DPC on 5th and Church .......................................................................................... ..123 Figure 2.2: Another view of DPC .............................................................................................. .123 Figure 2.3: The Egyptian Revival Sanctuary of DPC…………………………..........................124 Figure 2.4: 1955 DPC flier “Abiding Faith”................................................................................132 Figure 2.5: Chapel in DPC……………………………………………………………………...141 Figure 2.6: The Living Room meeting space in a DPC parlor…………………………………148 Figure 4.1: Chapel………………………………………………………………………...…......230 Figure 4.2: Fellowship Hall……………………………………………………………………..230 Figure 4.3: Dome of light in DPC chapel………………………………………………………241 Figure 5.1: Sandy’s religious t-shirt…………………………………………………………….304 Figure 5.2: Billy’s apron of blessing……………………………………………………………306 Figure 6.1: Mission Courtyard………………………………………………………………….326 Figure 6.2: Mission food line…………………………………………………………………...326 Figure 6.3: Mission food………………………………………………………………………..327 Figure 6.4: Divine Protection in an alley……………………………………………………….328 Figure 6.5: Divine Protection at DPC’s doorstep………………………………………………328 Figure 6.6: Gary’s Music Row…………………………………………………………………332 Figure 6.7: Creativity in Street Graffiti…………………………………………………………339 Figure 6.8: Creativity in Children’s Play……………………………………………………….339 Figure 6.9: “The world and day are fresh and I am with it.”…………………………………...341 Figure 6.10: Bud’s sky: “How come you can’t?”………………………………………………342 ix Figure 6.11: “See, I am coming in the clouds”…………………………………………………343 Figure 6.12: “Streams in the desert”……………………………………………………………345 Figure 6.13: Bud’s “high spot”…………………………………………………………………346 Figure 6.14: Bud’s “pick-me-up” provided by God……………………………………………347 Figure 6.15: Gary’s Tree………………………………………………………………………..348 Figure 6.16: Feeding Birds while Vending……………………………………………………..353 Figure 6.17: Bob the Wonder Cat………………………………………………………………354 Figure 6.18: Gary and Bob the Wonder Cat……………………………………………………355 Figure 6.19: Bear……………………………………………………………………………….356 Figure 6.20: Newly……………………………………………………………………………..357 Figure 6.21: The pack…………………………………………………………………………..357 Figure 6.22: Space to hold onto dogs and “church”……………………………………………357 Figure 6.23: