Crafting Theology: Toward a Theory of Literacy Smiths

Abstract

This ethnography focuses on the literacy practices of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco (UUWaco), a liberal faith-based community whose congregation includes members with various religious beliefs. To learn about this community’s literacy practices, I collected discourse-based interviews and participant-observations. My findings suggest that since UUWaco members do not endorse one set creed, they create their own theologies while relying on what I have come to call “multi-religious literacy,” or in-depth understanding of multiple religions and religious texts, through which UUWaco members craft new, individualized theologies. Guided by Deborah Brandt’s “literacy sponsors” and Alanna Frost’s “literacy stewards,” I propose a new term to describe UUWaco members, “literacy smiths.” Literacy smiths are people who seek out a variety of literacy sponsors and then borrow aspects of these sponsors’ literacy practices to create new literacies unique to their own discourse community. This term provides a new lens through which scholars can view literacy practices in religious communities, classrooms, and workplaces.