Global Entanglements, Essentialist Understandings of Religion, and Agency in the Study of Contemporary Catholicism

The article discusses theoretical and methodological problems in the study of contemporary Catholicism. In critical engagement with Jayeel S. Cornelio’s book Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines on young people reinterpreting religion in the Philippines, I discuss shortcomings related to questions of power, agency, and essentialist understandings of the subject matter. I argue that a global history and cultural studies–informed approach, which draws on poststructuralist theory and takes hegemonic struggles seriously, is best equipped to investigate religion and identity-making among Catholic youths in the Philippines and beyond.