Showing papers on "Secularization published in 1979"
TL;DR: In this article, the idea of "secularization" is examined in the context of Weber's work, paying special attention to the specific processes he had in mind whenever he referred to it.
Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed a re-discovery of the sociology of religion. Not accidentally, this resurgence roughly coincides with the publication of English translations of Weber's seminal theories and empirical studies of world religions. Many contemporary themes in the sociology of religion still draw heavily from Weber's ideas. Given his contemporary importance to the subject, it is somewhat surprising that no real attempt has been made to extrapolate from Weber's work a systematic theory of one of the most important themes of the sociology of religion: secularization. The author points to the fact that Weber himself rarely used the term “secularization,” though the idea is an important theme in much of his work. In this paper, the idea of secularization is examined in the context of Weber's work, paying special attention to the specific processes he had in mind whenever he referred to it. More generally, while not claiming to be comprehensive, the discussion attempts to fill the gap by presenting the general outlines of a systematic Weberian theory of secularization.
32 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analysis of the religious situation as it prevailed in Iran on the eve of the upheavals of 1978 and 1979, and suggest that such an analysis will help to place Iranian Islam in correct perspective and to assess more accurately the part it plays in political and social developments.
Abstract: That Islam played a significant role in events in Iran during 1978 and 1979 is hardly in question. What is much less clear is the nature and significance of that role. For many observers the Iranian 'revolution' was an upsurge of religious revivalism against materialism and corruption in high places. Others saw it as a rejection by the common people of the economic benefits of modernization and Westernization. For some it was a spontaneous reaction by a democratic faith against tyranny and absolutism. Yet others attributed to the most prominent of its leaders, the Ayatollah Khomeini, almost supernatural, messianic powers. No one seemed to be able, or even to desire, to offer a rational explanation of a situation in which a society that had been following a path of modernization and secularization for more than fifty years suddenly appeared to go into reverse, to throw overboard as it were the gains and achievements of two generations. This article does not set out to explain what happened, or even to give a consecutive account of the events of recent months, but rather to offer an analysis of the religious situation as it prevailed in Iran on the eve of the upheavals of 1978. It may be that such an analysis will help to place Iranian Islam in correct perspective and to assess more accurately the part it plays in political and social developments. It is part of conventional thinking in the West to consider religion as a 'reactionary* social force the 'opium of the people' -
26 citations
TL;DR: The dominant presence of lay professionals in Catholic pillar structures in Belgium was primarily caused by the process of democratization, the drop in religious vocations, and the increase o f religious resignations.
Abstract: In order to prevent contamination in their argumentation, sociologists should distinguish between secularization, religious change, and church involvement. The concept of secularization should be restricted to the process of the growing independence o f institutional spheres, each developing its own rationale, which implies the rejection of the overarching claim o f religion. In studying this process in. Catholic \"pillar structures\" (hospitals and schools) in Belgium, we sought to answer the question, who are the \"secularizers\"? It seems that lay professionals, in the process o f developing a professional rationale, are the bearers o f the secular tendency: they determine the organizational structure o f the hospital or the school, they marginalize religion even within the Catholic pillar structure, and they reduce religion to the interpersonal level, making it a matter o f private preference. On the other hand, professionalization also undermines traditional Christian values and ethics. The dominant presence of lay professionals in Catholic pillar structures in Belgium was primarily caused by the process of democratization, the drop in religious vocations, and the increase o f religious resignations. The democratization process called for larger state subsidies for the schools, which brought on state regulation o f the professional qualifications of the teaching staff. We also noted some reactions on the level o f legitimations and in the elaboration o f statutes from the higher echelons o f the Catholic pillar structure.
19 citations
TL;DR: The advent of the modern welfare state has tended to undermine the "mediating structures" that form linkages between the individual in his private life and the vast institutions of the public order.
Abstract: The advent of the modern welfare state has tended to undermine the "mediating structures" that form linkages between the individual in his private life and the vast institutions of the public order. Such institutions as churches and families are important not only because they are the value-generating and sustaining institutions in demo cratic society, but also because they are the agencies through which people most frequently interact in public life. The steady erosion of these natural communities by government expansion has resulted in public policies which lack the confidence of the people most directly affected by them. At the same time, there is an increasing desire for government services. Churches have been effectively excluded from con siderations of public policy by a view which identifies the public realm solely with the state. Where church participa tion is acknowledged, the forces of secularization and profes sionalization continue to assault the religious character of that involvement while t...
12 citations
10 citations
TL;DR: The recent political developments in Iran are frequently said to reflect a failure of intelligence and policy in Washington and other major world capitals as mentioned in this paper, and with equal justification, one could speak of a failure in orthodox theories of development.
Abstract: The recent political developments in Iran are frequently said to reflect a failure of intelligence and policy in Washington and other major world capitals. With equal justification, one could speak of a failure of orthodox theories of development. The establishment of an Islamic republic by means of a mass-based movement in Iran in 1979-and signs of a similar popular potential in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and even Turkey-could not have been predicted by either liberal or Marxist theoretical models of modernization. The time has come to reassess one of the most cherished and basic assumptions of mainstream theory: that secularization accompanies industrialization and social change, with the traditional elites and belief systems giving way to a modern state, and religion occupying its allotted space in the private realm. In earlier cases it was easier for the theorist of development to explain the political uses made of Islam, the reference to Islamic values, and identity. In the case of Qadhafi's Libya, for example, the reestablishment of Islamic law could be interpreted as an attempt to achieve popular and ideological support for what was in reality a "modernizing" military government. Theorists portrayed Islam as serving as a traditional fundament for a transitional society that constructed its value system from heterogeneous elements including socialism, neutralism, and a belief in "progress." In the case of the Palestinians, the mixed religious composition of even the most radical segments of the Palestine Liberation Organization allowed it to be classified as a nationalist irredenta movement rather than a genuinely Islamic phenomenon. Based on the Iranian revolution and Khomeini's concept of an Islamic
7 citations
TL;DR: The persistence of religion among scientists is the background question from which is derived a number of theoretical questions previously explored only tentatively in the sociology of religion and less by sociology of science as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The persistence of religion among scientists is the background question from which is derived a number of theoretical questions previously explored only tentatively in the sociology of religion and less by the sociology of science. The examination, organized around the differences in style and subject of these two sociological specialties, argues that the social study of science could benefit from and supplement theoretical concepts recently developed in the sociology of religion. Propositions are developed on the idea of scientism as a general ideology functioning as a substitute religion, and the proposition that modern consciousness is more able to sustain normative dissonance, including dissonance between religious and scientific norms. The discussion is theoretical and programmatic rather than empirical.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pointed out that the traditional attitude toward social change, particularly abrupt and radical change, and a certain fear of tackling controversial theoretical issues may have played a role in the cautious adoption and use of the secularization thesis.
Abstract: Compared to the popularity of some other themes in the sociology of religion in Japan introduced from abroad, the concept and thesis of secularization has net, until recently, evoked a very enthusiastic response and has not led to an in-depth debate of the theoretical issues involved. When we seek for an explanation of this attitude of hesitancy and caution not necessarily in terms of a strictly causal relationship we can first point to some general characteristics of the sociology of religion in Japan. In addition to those indicated by several other authors, the traditional attitude toward social change, particularly abrupt and radical change, and, further, a certain fear of tackling controversial theoretical issues, may have played a role in the cautious adoption and use of the secularization thesis. Also some factors peculiar to the present time seem to have been influential. Among them we count the growing awareness that the peculiarity of Japan's present social and religious situation is different from that of the West, and that this fact requires a correspondingly peculiar conceptualization and methodology. In this connection, the theoretical issues of value-freedom in socio-religious research and of the cross-cultural applicability of concepts and theories are fundamental problems that call for renewed systematic consideration.
6 citations
01 May 1979
TL;DR: The process of the secularisation of European culture took place, for the most part, in the period covered by this volume as discussed by the authors, and this process accelerated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the fundamental change of attitude between the sixteenth century and the twentieth may be summed up in two quotations.
Abstract: At first sight it all seems quite simple and obvious. Medieval man lived in a predominantly religious culture, but we live in a predominantly secular one, and the process of the secularisation of European culture took place, for the most part, in the period covered by this volume. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment were all milestones on the road to a secular culture and society, and the secularisation process accelerated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One theological position after another was made untenable by repeated attacks and was abandoned for another, further behind the lines, in the shrinking territory of the sacred. Belief in the supernatural was gradually replaced by a more rational, scientific out-look, a process summed up by the sociologist Max Weber as ‘the disenchantment of the world’ ( Die Entzauberung der Welt ). The clergy lost in turn their monopoly of learning, their power to persecute the unorthodox, and their influence on the policy of governments. The fundamental change of attitude between the sixteenth century and the twentieth may be summed up in two quotations. In his General History of the Indies (1552), Francisco Lopez de Gomara described the discovery of America as ‘The greatest event since the creation of the world (excluding the incarnation and death of Him who created it).’ But in 1969, when men first landed on the moon, Richard Nixon spoke quite simply of ‘the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation’.
5 citations
TL;DR: The concept of ''religion and social change'' came to play a central part in sociology of religion rather late, around 1960, in connection with the general topic of "religion-and social change".
Abstract: The concept o f secularization, though with a long history o f over three hundred years in Western intellectual history, came to play a central part in sociology of religion rather late, around 1960, in connection with the general topic of \"religion and social change.\" In Japan, translated as sezokuka, it was first taken up by Christian academic circles, but its reception in other quarters was not so rapid. If we want to approach the problem as an object of scientific inquiry, we should take into account the peculiar ambiguity deriving from its history in the West as well as some issues arising from its application to Japanese or other non-Western societies. First of all, its multi-layeredness and plurifunctionality must be kept in mind, consisting as it does o f three different levels description, interpretation, and ideological evaluation of the factual process of change occurring in religion in contemporary societies. A t the same time, we have to examine whether its transhistorical and cross-cultural application is possible and legitimate. In this paper, an attempt is made to first make clear the background against which the problem of secularization arose. Further, it is contended that a way must be sought somehow to synthesize the wide, comparative perspective with the historical awareness o f the contemporary situation and the Western view with the peculiarly Japanese methodology.
TL;DR: One of the problems vexing scholars of Japanese religion is whether the kinds of changes taking place in Japanese religion and society can properly be designated "secularization." The term itself smacks of a concept of religion more appropriate to the experience of Western Christianity than to Japanese religion.
Abstract: One of the problems vexing scholars of Japanese religion is whether the kinds of changes taking place in Japanese religion and society can properly be designated "secularization." The term itself smacks of a concept of religion more appropriate to the experience of Western Christianity than to that of Japanese religion. That important, perhaps even radical changes are occurring in Japan is not to be denied, but if secularization is regarded as involving a widespread sense of social malaise and value-crisis, most scholars would probably agree that what is happening in Japan should be designated by some other term. If, however, one sets psychological considerations aside, it might prove a useful exercise to ask: if the term "secularization" were applied to certain events in recent Japanese history, what would the term then mean?
TL;DR: Umbanda, a twentieth century religious movement in Brazil, appeals to its adherents in terms of national identity as discussed by the authors, and its focus on cultural roots may be seen as lending support to such a claim.
Abstract: Umbanda, a twentieth century religious movement in Brazil, appeals to its adherents in terms of national identity. Its focus on cultural roots may be seen as lending support to such a claim. In the above context major items of belief and ritual are examined and their underlying syncretism highlighted with reference to the religions of the African slaves, the Amerindians, the colonizers and the Kardecist variety of Spiritualism. When combined, these components blend to give Umbanda a unique indigenousflavor. Finally the discussion turns on Umbanda as a reformative movement. With an increasing emphasis on individual religiosity and anti-institutionalism (Luckmann, 1967), pluralism in the Judeo-Christianized West has become a fact of life for the sociologist of religion (Wilson, 1966), By contrast, the social cohesion theory of Durkheim (1966) is generally limited to specific religious or ethnic groups operating within a given culture. Whether or not we accept the hypothesis of secularization, rarely do we encounter analyses today of modern societies which bestow on religion a property of quasi-total acculturation. However, for lesser developed societies the situation is somewhat different. The effect of religion on social structure in India is well known (Bottomore, 1962), as are also the implications of Islam for those areas of the world which embrace it as their official way of life. There the presecularized institutions of law and politics are barely distinguishable from the religious, thus tending to make the latter 'a blueprint of the social order' (Gellner, 1968). In other, predominantly Latin, quarters an underpinning cultural "Catolicismo" has the possibility of providing a rallying point of symbolic unity (Willems, 1965). This essay examines the force of contemporary religion in Brazil, a society approximately half way between the above two stages, one which has adopted a Western model of development. More specifically, a look is taken at a twentieth century movement known as Umbanda and its pursuit of cultural identity in a modern urban setting. Since the Second World War, Umbanda has registered a dramatic increase in membership (Bastide, 1960), particularly in the industrial regions (Willems, 1966). It has been claimed (Da Matta e Silva, 1969), for instance, that there are over 100,000 Umbandan "terreiros" (temples) in Brazil, and that as many as 60% of Catholics in that country practice some variety of Umbanda for all but "seasonal" (Le Bras, 1956) religious occasions. One likely reason for the popularity of Umbanda lies in its syncretic compo- nents (Schurtz, 1964), which, taken together, allegedly enhance national con-
01 Jan 1979
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: The cognitive basis of late medieval religious biographies is discussed in this article, where the authors discuss the cognitive basis for the four treatises that became famous as the Imitatio Christi and with which the name of Thomas a Kempis is associated.
Abstract: Publisher Summary
This chapter discusses the cognitive basis of late Medieval religious biographies. Medievalists may rarely assume that the written sources from which they derive their information are well-known to the general reader. The four treatises that, as one whole, have become famous as the Imitatio Christi and with which the name of Thomas a Kempis is associated are no doubt among the relatively few exceptions. Imitatio Christi may be seen as an epitome of its religious aims. Its adherents strove to realize values and a living faith of which effects were meant to be visible in everyday life. In this manner, they attempted to transcend the superficiality and secularization typical of 14th century official church life. The church appeared to many to have forfeited its function as intermediary between God and man, and the members of the Modern Devotion and many other like-minded men and women sought a more direct spiritual contact with God. For even within monastery walls, this could not often be found. The ordinary layman who really wanted to save his soul had no other choice than to join or found a community of laymen, in whose comparative seclusion from the world he might attempt to live a more truly pious life.
01 Jan 1979
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the main features of Martin's Seculaniation theory are briefly summarized and the difficulty of incorporating culturally specific elements is treated, and the conclusion is that when modified to fit the contemporary Japanese situation, Martin's theory does help one to understand recent developments in the largest Protestant body in Japan, the Nihon Kirisuto Kyddan.
Abstract: The central question o f this study is whether the secularization theory formulated by David Martin (1978) can help make intelligible what has been happening in recent years in the largest Protestant body in Japan, the Nihon Kirisuto Kyddan. After proposing working definitions of the terms \"religious\" and \"secular\" with particular attention to the idea o f \"secular religion,\" the main features of Martin's theory are briefly summarized. Treated as centrally important is his concept o f 'tframe, \" the religious environment of a society, including the role of the state, at the time it enters modernity. The Japanese frame as o f 1868 is characterized as one in which Shinto was made a de facto state cult (legally defined as a non-religion) without prejudice to popular affiliation with Buddhism. Christianity and other unauthorized religious groups were suppressed as illegal. In the recent history o f the Nihon Kirisuto Kybdan, three series of events are selected for consideration: ( I ) the 1967 Confession of wartime responsibility and the polarizing debates that followed it, (2) the 1968 decision to participate in the ecumenical Christian pavilion at the Japanese International Exposition of 1970 and the confrontations to which it gave rise, and (3) the 1969-70 maneuvers o f faculty and students at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, the major institution of theological education in the Nihon Kirisuto Kybdan, and the further polarization to which they led in the church at large. An attempt is then made to analyze these events in the light of seculaniation theory. This leads to a modification in the theory, such that one assumes the coexistence o f two frames: the traditional stateover-religion frame and the postwar neutral-state/pluralistic-religion frame. The relationships between Christianity and politics, and between Christianity and social authority, are considered in light o f this assumption: Finally, the difficulty o f incorporating culturally specific elements is treated. The conclusion is .that, when modified to fit the contemporary Japanese situation, Martin's theory does help one to understand recent developments in the Nihon Kirisuto Kyaan.