Abstract

This research study for the first time ever defines the concept of “personal religious identity”, which differs from the concept of “religious identity” as the self-identification against a certain social faith considered standard. The personal religious identity can be understood as the fruitful life of an individual spirit, which comprehends the foundations of authentic existence correlating them against consecrated principality and giving birth to new images of normativity. The phenomenon of personal religious identity is being manifested as the act of self-determination oriented towards transformation of the existing social norms at the expense of sacrificial performance, if required. Each human being has such a process as unique and inimitable. This is the region of search, guesswork, assumptions, personal hypothetical constructions, mystic revelations. The so-called theological opinions are rooted in it. This gives birth to new religious trends and whole religious systems. This is the sphere for personal religious creativeness. In this context, personal religious identity may be treated individually -each on his own. This is an underexplored and most troubled, particularly when it comes to its accommodation with collective or confessional identity.