Full Description
Religion lies near the heart of the classical sociological tradition, yet it no longer occupies the same place within the contemporary sociological enterprise. This relative absence has left sociology under-prepared for thinking about religion's continuing importance in new issues, movements, and events in the twenty-first century. This book seeks to address this lacunae by offering a variety of theoretical perspectives on the study of religion that bridge the gap between mainstream concerns of sociologists and the sociology of religion. Following an assessment of the current state of the field, the authors develop an emerging critical perspective within the sociology of religion with particular focus on the importance of historical background. Re-assessing the themes of aesthetics, listening and different degrees of spiritual self-discipline, the authors draw on ethnographic studies of religious involvement in Norway and the UK. They highlight the importance of power in the sociology of religion with help from Pierre Bourdieu, Marx and Critical Discourse Analysis. This book points to emerging currents in the field and offers a productive and lively way forward, not just for sociological theory of religion, but for the sociology of religion more generally.
Contents
Introduction: Thinking Theoretically in the Sociology of Religion Andrew McKinnon and Marta Trzebiatowska PART I: The State of the Art and Science of the Sociology of Religion 1 Thinking Sociologically about Religion: A Step Change in the Debate? Grace Davie 2 What Sort of Social Theory Would Benefit the Sociology of Religion? Steve Bruce PART II: History and Religion 3 The Axial Age Religions: The Debate and its Legacy for Contemporary Sociology Bryan S. Turner 4 Hope and Religion David Lehmann 5 The Sacramental Mechanism: Religion and the Civilizing Process in Christian Western Europe with Particular Reference to the Peace of God Movement and its Aftermath Andrew McKinnon PART III: Religion and Modernity 6 Religion and Monetary Culture in the Sociology of Georg Simmel Dominika Motak 7 Putting Baby Back in the Bath: Theorising Modernity for the Contemporary Sociology of Religion Andrew Dawson PART IV: Ethnographies of Listening to Churches: Aesthetics and Rationality 8 Playing the Sensual Card in Churches: Studying the Aestheticization of Religion Anne Margit Løvland and Pål Repstad 9 Listening Subjects, Rationality and Modernity Anna Strhan PART V: Power, Gender and Discourse 10 Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Sociology of Religion Titus Hjelm 11 Beyond Habitus: Researching Gender and Religion through the Ontology of Social Relations Marta Trzebiatowska
