Concepts of religion in debates on secularization

observe that secularization theory, and more recently empirical and conceptual debates about its birth, death and possible resurrection have been at the heart of theorizing and debates within the sociology of religion. Much of this debate revolves around two key issues. First, there is contention as to whether secularization can be an appropriate social-theoretical concept if it is accepted that it is inevitably contaminated by the normative investments surrounding its invention. Secondly, on a more prosaic but not unrelated level, it is argued that in any case secularization fails as theory due to a putative return or resurgence of the religious in postmodernity. This paper seeks to argue that secularization and its other, desecularization, are themselves embedded in and inescapably marked by theological metaphors of teleology. This is because of the stakes involved in the emergence of differentiation in modernity (driven initially by a normative secularization between the political and the theological). This tale of origins cannot escape the simultaneous invention of the polar concepts of the religious and the secular in early modernity. What this paper seeks to do is review aspects of the genealogy of secularization paying particular attention to the theological ghosts which continue to haunt sociology's emancipatory self conception as a scientific discipline. The paper will then review some of the arguments against the secularization thesis in light of these themes. The aim of this argument is to suggest that social theorists of religion can still employ secularization as a normative analyticwhen understood reflexively and as itself a social construction -in order to measure aspects of the specificity of the imbrication of the religious with the cultural and political at the turn of the new millennium. The argument will be grounded and illustrated with brief reference to empirical studies of Wicca (Bahnisch 2001) and religion as a cultural resource for political mobilization in both the culture wars of the American 1990s and recent conflicts represented as a "clash of civilizations" between the West (coded as Christian) and its Islamic other (Bahnisch 2003a).

Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Legal Studies, 2022

The prime purpose of this article is to study religion from different paradigms or perspectives from a sociological viewpoint. Religion is defined as a social institution while economic reality, ideological support, and everyday interactions of people are also undertaken as core concepts. In fact, this article is an overview of the religion of three theoretical perspectives of sociology focusing on the work of Emile Durkheim, Robert K. Merton (the functionalist), Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Engels (the conflict), and Peter Berger (the interactionist). A brief discussion of each perspective is articulated clearly, followed by secondary sources including published books, book sections, blogs, research articles, and WebPages highlighting the foundations of the relevant theory. Afterward, the author reviews the discourses of the theorists regarding religion with its application to human society. Finally, the article provides a summary of these perspectives continuing to develop the ...

I discuss the concepts of "seculariization" and its critique, starting with Brian W. WILSON and ending with David MARTIN and Joerg STOLZ. I present an overview on the most relevant contribution on this issue, including also Peter L. BERGER, Thomas LUCKMANN, Hubert KNOBLAUCH, Steve BRUCE, Pippa NORRIS/Ronald INGLEHART, Detlef POLLACK, Gert PICKEL, Rodney STARK, Karl GABRIEL, Monika WOHLRAB-SAHR, Marian BORCHARDT, José CASANOVA and Karel DOBBELAERE. I show the arguments and (some) empirical findings in favour and against secularization and conclude in the end, that secularization has to be taken serious, but has at the same time to be supplemented and transcended in order to adequately understand the present religious landscape and its processes and to correctly theorize about them.

Nordic Journal of Religion and Society (2015), 28 (1): 21–36, 2015

For some decades, the academic concept of religion has been examined critically by a number of scholars. There have been some sociological responses to these criticisms against ‘religion’. This article argues that these sociological responses have missed important implications of these criticisms, which can be constructively incorporated into sociological discourse about religion. What can be meaningfully studied is the practice of classification carried out with the term ‘religion’ and norms and imperatives which govern and naturalise a specific discursive configuration of the religious-secular dichotomy. This approach indicates the vacuum in the sociological discourse of religion, which needs to be filled with empirical research, in order to map and theorize the ways in which people utilize the term ‘religion’ in a specific social context.

Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, 2005

Critical Research on Religion, 2019

The generic notion of " religion " and its conceptual demarcation from " the secular " have been critically examined by a number of scholars from the " critical religion " perspective. The interrogation of the term " religion, " and other related terms, questions modern formations of knowledge and power in general. This paper constitutes part of the project which examines norms and imperatives which govern sociological discourse on religion. Max Weber and Emile Durkheim are particularly significant figures in sociology of religion. The aim of this paper is to historicize the category " religion " (and its opposition " the secular ") employed by Weber and Durkheim, in the specific social context of Germany and France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It hopes to contribute to a greater understanding of the ideological foundation of sociological theories of religion. This article is a preliminary but critical examination of the idea of " religion " in sociological theories, and of the classificatory practice that employs the term " religion " (as opposed to " the secular ") in sociological discourse. In other words, it applies the " critical religion " approach to highlight the ideological function of the religion–secular distinction. In this

Asian Journal of Social Sciences Humanities, 2013

The views of sociologists on the nature and social functions of religion do not show any evidence of consensus, but rather great disparity. There is a clear case of overcomplication and over-intellectualization of religious phenomena. Even when there is a voluntary declaration of intention to observe agnostic neutrality and academic morality, many scholars are guilty of value judgment and subjective intrusion into the essence of religion. The question that is begging for answer is: if religion is a social institution with practitioners and specialists, is it reasonable to define religion apart, or away from the known practices of the votaries? When scholars in exercise of academic freedom say things, or propound a theory that have no bearing with religion in the practical sense, is it mandatory that such views be taken serious? These are some of the questions that this paper will attempt to answer. The paper examines the theories of religion by leading theorists in sociology of religion and came up with the conclusion that theory is different from practice. It is the opinion of this paper that some of the theories are outdated and do not deserve serious consideration in 21 st century sociology. Religion as a social institution is dynamic, such that research findings of previous centuries, and epoch cannot remain valid forever. Social scientific study of religion is in dire need of contemporary theoretical analysis and that is the challenge before scholarship.

The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology …, 2010

Provides an account of Marx and Weber's Sociology of Religion as the fountations for sociology of religion today.

2021

The paper presents an overview on some specificities of philosophical and of sociological approaches to religion. Among the chosen philosophical epistemological models are described: religion as universum (F.Schleiermacher, G.W.F.Hegel); the anthropocentric approach; the religion interpreted as a moral phenomenon (I.Kant); religion within the framework of dichotomies of human nature (E.Fromm, P.Tillich). The author presents and comments a few aspects of the J.Beckford's analysis of problems and trends in the sociology of religion. The latest development in the Cognitive science of religion (CSR) are emphasized.