A couple possible leads:

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel According to John: A Contextual Study on the Symbolism of Water Paperback – June 12, 2014by Elia Shabani Mligo (Author), Lechion Peter Kimilike (Foreword) Wipf and Stock. Symbolic interactionism is a social-scientific perspective that seeks to describe how human beings create meaning with one another in their daily lives. Since the world is populated by symbols that characterize all interactions among living beings, this book explores the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction while moving beyond the social sciences to theological studies. By examining the way symbolic interaction is portrayed among characters in the Gospel according to John in the "water narratives" this book argues that the Bible is a symbol that is itself full of symbols whose meanings are worthy of our study. Hence, the interaction of characters in the Gospel of John and the whole Bible, along with the symbols they use in their interactions, demonstrates that symbolism is directly linked to human life because symbols are major means of communication, and without symbols, human beings are in chaos.

Israel as Center Stage: A Setting for Social and Religious Enactments Hardcover – November 30, 2000by A. Paul Hare (Author), Gideon Kressel (Author) Praeger.

After introducing the dramaturgical perspectives by drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, and the theater, the contributors give examples of enactments for which the persons involved were quite conscious of the fact that they must first establish a stage, or action area, before they could perform. As in theater, the setting of the stage has implicit meanings and actions will then become explicit as the drama unfolds. In Part I of the book, the accounts of the early kibbutzniks who needed an action area for their collective agricultural settlements, the new settlers who wish to reclaim Judea and Samaria, and the African-Americans who discovered that Israel was at the intersection of Hebrew and African traditions, provide variations on this theme.

Part II details varieties of enactments that have and possibly will take place in Israel, including an account of Ethiopian youths who experienced their crossing of the Sudan on their way to Israel to participate in the events of the Millennium. Other accounts of social dramas describe the sulha, the traditional Bedouin method of the resolution of a blood feud between Bedouin tribes, and the religious pilgrimmages by Jews, Arabs, and Christians to holy sites where they sometimes reenact a past event.

See also the enotes at http://www.enotes.com/research-starters/sociological-theories-religion-symbolic

You may want to read Sheldon Stryker and Richard Serpe's work that applies symbolic interactionism (identity theory) to understand the "religious identity."

I'm not sure if this is for you, but it has caught my interest guiding my path to researching holistic medicine and finding tools that may help produce a life changing spiritual experience. These studies are currently going on in my area. Please let me know if this correlates to what you are searching for?

Dear Royal Holloway,

 Perhaps, there is a link between the physical and spiritual elements of social life, which may add depth to your work. On the other hand, I’m not sure such a link is what you are looking for.

 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19420889.2016.1172159

 http://www.westernfreepress.com/2016/03/13/scientific-proof-of-the-existence-of-natural-rights-found-in-the-constructal-law/

 After you have read the above links, consider the constructal law relationship to the process of understanding becomes the freedom from the resistance in the struggle to understand. When resistance becomes insolvable, freedom for many is found in the spiritual domain.   

 Best regards,

Mike

Kindly see my first conceptual "stab" on the topic, please:

Article Where Is the Money? The Intersectionality of the Spirit Worl...