Weaving theory and practice together, MaryCatherine Burgess explores the historically difficult relationship between religion and spirituality by applying cross-cultural elements of shamanism and Danièle Hervieu-Léger's Model of 'Religion as a Chain of Memory' to her study of contemporary shamanic practice in Scotland. 

Within the context of cultural and religious change, she utilises Hervieu-Léger's analytical model to uncover a shamanic worldview that carries in its memory and practice a lineage of spirituality, not belief. This distinction sheds critical light on a new paradigm of spirituality and religion that reflects how many in Western societies currently respond to institutional religion.