Showing papers on "Secularization published in 1994"
Book•
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: In this article, Casanova surveys the role of religion in the public sphere of modern societies, focusing on five cases from two religious traditions (Catholicism and Protestantism) in four countries (Spain, Poland, Brazil, and the United States).
Abstract: In this reconsideration of the relation between religion and modernity, Jose Casanova surveys the roles that religions may play in the public sphere of modern societies. During the 1980s, religious traditions around the world, from Islamic fundamentalism to Catholic liberation theology, began making their way, often forcefully, out of the private sphere and into public life, causing the "deprivatization" of religion in contemporary life. No longer content merely to administer pastoral care to individual souls, religious institutions are challenging dominant political and social forces, raising questions about the claims of entities such as nations and markets to be "value neutral", and straining the traditional connections of private and public morality. Casanova looks at five cases from two religious traditions (Catholicism and Protestantism) in four countries (Spain, Poland, Brazil, and the United States). These cases challenge postwar - and, indeed, post-Enlightenment - assumptions about the role of modernity and secularization in religious movements throughout the world. This book expands our understanding of the increasingly significant role religion plays in the ongoing construction of the modern world.
2,338 citations
TL;DR: This article proposed a theory of religious mobilization that accounts for variations in religious participation on the basis of variations in the degree of regulation of religious economies and consequent variations in their levels of religious competition.
Abstract: We propose a theory of religious mobilization that accounts for variations in religious participation on the basis of variations in the degree of regulation of religious economies and consequent variations in their levels of religious competition. To account for the apparent 'secularization" of many European nations, we stress supply-side weaknesses - inefficient religious organizations within highly regulated religious economies - rather than a lack of individual religious demand. We test the theory with both quantitative and historical data and, based on the results, suggest that the concept of secularization be dropped for lack of cases to which it could apply.
703 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose de souligner trois points : l'autorite religieuse mise en rapport avec les recents developpements en theorie sociale, l'etat actuel de la litterature relatant la secularisation, and une approche Weberienne de l'analyse sociologique de la religion.
Abstract: On entend generalement par secularisation, le declin de l'autorite religieuse. L'article propose de souligner trois points : l'autorite religieuse mise en rapport avec les recents developpements en theorie sociale, l'etat actuel de la litterature relatant la secularisation, et une approche Weberienne de l'analyse sociologique de la religion. De nouvelles hypotheses concernant les relations entre la religion et les mouvements sociaux sont a etablir, afin de mieux saisir de maniere conceptuelle et empirique la secularisation au sein de societes, d'organisations et d'individus
685 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: Turner as mentioned in this paper examines the recent debate about orientalism in relation to postmodernism and the process of globalization and provides a profound critique of many of the leading fissures in classical orientalisms.
Abstract: It is often thought that the development of capitalism and the modernization of culture have brought about a profound decline of religious belief and commitment. The history of Christianity in the last two decades appears to be a good illustration of this general process of secularization with the undermining of belief and commitment as Western cultures became industrial and urban. However, in the twentieth century we have seen that Islam continues to be a dominant force in politics and culture not only in the Orient but in Western society. In this challenging study of contemporary social theory, Bryan Turner examines the recent debate about orientalism in relation to postmodernism and the process of globalization. He provides a profound critique of many of the leading fissures in classical orientalism. His book also considers the impact of the notion of the world in sociological theory. These cultural changes and social debates also reflect important change in the status and position of intellecuals in modern culture who are threatened, not only by the levelling of mass culture, but also by the new opportunities posed by postmodernism. He takes a critical view of the role of sociology in these developments and raises important questions about the global role of English intellectuals as a social stratum. Bryan Turner's ability to combine these discussions about religion, politics, culture and intellectuals represents a remarkable integration of cultural analysis in cultural studies.
284 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is suggested that differences in religious adherence and/or in degrees of secularization between advanced nations may be as relevant to understanding cross-national variance in a wide range of public policy outcomes as the impact of socioeconomic and political factors.
Abstract: . This paper suggests that differences in religious adherence and/or in degrees of secularization between advanced nations may be as relevant to understanding cross-national variance in a wide range of public policy outcomes as the impact of socio-economic and political factors. The prima facie evidence for such a thesis is demonstrated in areas as diverse as welfare expenditure, family policy and labour market policy outcomes, and is shown to have a particular salience wherever gender-related outcomes are at issue. On the basis of this evidence, it is suggested that, in policy outcome terms at least, it is possible to identify a distinctive Catholic family of nations consisting of a grouping of core Western European and Southern European countries.
211 citations
TL;DR: A comparison of Berlin, London, and New York in the later 19th century can be found in this article, where a revisionist approach to religious change is proposed. But this approach is based on the orthodox model.
Abstract: Secularization - the orthodox model, Roy Wallis and Steve Bruce a revisionist approach to religious change, Callum Brown secular cities? - a comparison of Berlin, London, and New York in the later 19th century, Hugh McLeod secularization and census data, Robin Gill recent transformations in English catholicism - evidence of secularization?, Michael Hornsby-Smith an unsecular America, Roger Finke pluralism and religious vitality, Steve Bruce reflections on a many-sided controversy, Bryan Wilson.
85 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed new approaches to religious activism and legitimation efforts in the United States and in the world-system that stress the interrelatedness of religion and politics, and evaluated the contributions of new theories of social movements and culture, Marxism, and feminism to new conceptualizations of the relationships among religious struggles, inequality, and political order.
Abstract: Sociologists have always recognized the “double function” of religion in the legitimation of power and privilege and in protest and opposition, but theories of secularization and modernization predicted the declining significance of religion in contemporary public life. We review new approaches to religious activism and legitimation efforts in the United States and in the world-system that stress the interrelatedness of religion and politics. Then we evaluate the contributions of new theories of social movements and culture, Marxism, and feminism to new conceptualizations of the relationships among religious struggles, inequality, and political order today.
73 citations
68 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: O'Brien as discussed by the authors argues that the primary work of Catholic colleges and universities is to foster a tradition that translates meaning and moral values into public practice, and provides a historical and ecclesial context for the current debates about what makes a Catholic institution Catholic, the decline in the teaching orders and increasing secularization.
Abstract: In the wake of Vatican II and the social revolutions in modern America, Catholic colleges and universities are now groping for a sense of identity and mission. In the past, these institutions provided a haven and anchor for the sons and daughters of an immigrant church. But what is the function of Catholic colleges today? Do they exist primarily to confer degrees and promote professional training, like other colleges, or do they participate in a special way in the work of the church? O'Brien proposes that the primary work of Catholic colleges and universities is to foster a tradition that translates meaning and moral values into public practice. From the Heart of the American Church provides a historical and ecclesial context for the current debates about what makes a Catholic institution Catholic, the decline in the teaching orders and increasing secularization, and the issues of academic freedom versus Catholic identity. It is must-reading for academics and administrators, students and alumni of Catholic colleges, and everyone concerned with the future of Catholic higher education in America and its contribution to American culture.
45 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: Bonfil's detailed picture reveals in the Italian Jews a sensitivity and self-awareness that took into account every aspect of the larger society as mentioned in this paper, and claims that the ghetto experience did more to intensify Jewish self-perception in early modern Europe than the supposed acculturation of the Renaissance.
Abstract: With this heady exploration of time and space, rumors and silence, colors, tastes, and ideas, Robert Bonfil recreates the richness of Jewish life in Renaissance Italy. He also forces us to rethink conventional interpretations of the period, which feature terms like 'assimilation' and 'acculturation'. Questioning the Italians' presumed capacity for tolerance and civility, he points out that Jews were frequently uprooted and persecuted, and where stable communities did grow up, it was because the hostility of the Christian population had somehow been overcome. After the ghetto was imposed in Venice, Rome, and other Italian cities, Jewish settlement became more concentrated. Bonfil claims that the ghetto experience did more to intensify Jewish self-perception in early modern Europe than the supposed acculturation of the Renaissance. He shows how, paradoxically, ghetto living opened and transformed Jewish culture, hastening secularization and modernization. Bonfil's detailed picture reveals in the Italian Jews a sensitivity and self-awareness that took into account every aspect of the larger society. His inside view of a culture flourishing under stress enables us to understand how identity is perceived through constant interplay - on whatever terms - with the Other.
41 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that despite maintaining the image of a twelve-step organization, the central theme of the history of Gamblers Anonymous in the United States is the increasing secularization of the program of the recovery.
Abstract: The paper argues that despite maintaining the image of a twelve-step organization, the central theme of the history of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) in the United States is the increasing secularization of the program of the recovery. The paper documents the increasing secularization and pragmatism of Gamblers Anonymous, as reflected in key documents, despite the spiritual vision of its founding member. The author speculates on why Gamblers Anonymous took a secularized development path. Further research is called for.
TL;DR: The authors profite de la conference H. Paul Douglass pour faire part de son experience personnelle de chercheuse en sociologie de la religion au sujet d'un travail sur le theme de la secularisation.
Abstract: L'A. profite de la conference H. Paul Douglass pour faire part de son experience personnelle de chercheuse en sociologie de la religion au sujet d'un travail sur le theme de la secularisation
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the parallel decline of religious experience and religious practice, Sabino Acquaviva Buddhism in the modern world -secularization of protestantization, Richard F. Hammond and Mark A. Shibley some reflections on the paralellisation of religion, Roland Robertson church involvement and secularization, making sense of the European case, Karel Dobbelaere when the sacred returns - an empirical test, Phillip E. Hammond, Phillip A.Shibley, J.D. Peel the evangelical expansion south of the American border, David
Abstract: Community, society, globality and the category of religion, Roland Robertson church involvement and secularization - making sense of the European case, Karel Dobbelaere when the sacred returns - an empirical test, Phillip E. Hammond and Mark A. Shibley some reflections on the parallel decline of religious experience and religious practice, Sabino Acquaviva Buddhism in the modern world - secularization of protestantization, Richard F. Gombrich an Africanist revisits "Magic and the Millennium", J.D.Y. Peel the evangelical expansion south of the American border, David Martin states, government and the management of controversial new religious movements, James A. Beckford ennobled savages - New Zealand's manipulationist milieu, Michael Hill charisma and explanation, Roy Wallis charismatization - the social production of "an ethos propitious to the mobilization of sentiments", Eileen Barker the apocalyptic theme in religious orders, Jean Seguy from religion to psychotherapy - Yoshimoto Ishin's "Naikan" or "Method of Inner Observation", Susumu Shimazono worlds at war - illustrations of an aesthetics in authority or numbered notes toward a trilogy, of which the general title is "Sacred Order/Social Order", Philip Rieff Christ and the media - secularization, rationalism and sectarianism in the history of British broadcasting - 1922-1976, Asa Briggs crowds, time and the essence of society, Richard Fenn.
TL;DR: There is a long-standing tradition in Western thought that sees religion as a bolster for morality as discussed by the authors, and the idea is that religious belief provides a kind of social cement, fostering an 'ethos' in which traditional moral values are respected.
Abstract: There is a long-standing tradition in Western thought that sees religion as a bolster for morality. In its vaguest version, the idea is that religious belief provides a kind of social cement, fostering an ‘ethos’ in which traditional moral values are respected.1 Religious observances are thus often prized by the ethical conservative, who fears secularization as subversive of the moral and social fabric. Religion, at the very least, serves to keep people in line: as Descartes put it, ‘since in this life the rewards offered to vice are often greater than the rewards of virtue, few people would prefer what is right to what is expedient if they did not fear God or have the expectation of an after life’.2
Book•
01 Nov 1994
TL;DR: Christian trade unionism and international trade action: the international christian metalworkers - the struggle for an efficient representation of interests the opportunities of the international trade federation for office workers as discussed by the authors The international "Christian" trade union movement: from IFCTU to WCL - a revolution towards trade union unification at European level crisisin the WCL christian trade unions in Europe after the foundation of the ETUC.
Abstract: Christian trade unionism - country summaries: secularization and the preservation of christian trade unionism in France the partial depillarization in the Netherlands a powerful movement in Belgium Luxembourg - between unity and individuality Switzerland - internal tension in a federal country West Germany - on the edge of the DGB Austria - a christian faction in the unified trade union christian trade unionism in Italy - nothing is what it seems Christian trade unionism in Eastern Europe?. The international "christian" trade union movement: from IFCTU to WCL - a revolution towards trade union unification at European level crisisin the WCL christian trade unionism in Europe after the foundation of the ETUC. Christian identity and international trade action: the international christian metal-workers - the struggle for an efficient representation of interests the opportunities of the international trade federation for office workers.
TL;DR: The authors identifies several master narratives that govern discussions of religion in modern history, including celebratory, balance-sheet, and Saidian approaches to imperial history, secularization theory, and the male, clerical, celebratory history of missionaries.
Abstract: This paper identifies several master narratives that govern discussions of religion in modern history, including celebratory, balance-sheet, and Saidian approaches to imperial history, secularization theory, and the male, clerical, celebratory history of missionaries. Except for missionary history, these master narratives marginalize the religious point of view, and with it individuals and audiences who share a variety of religious opinions. The celebratory history of missions ignores or evades the anti-imperialist critique of Western religious expansion, and conceals the predominantly female character of the missionary movement. The paper concludes with the author's attempt to develop a point of view for a study of Western missionary work in Punjab, one that takes the anti-imperialist critique into account without dismissing the religious convictions of missionary men and women, and South Asian Christians.
TL;DR: In this paper, the author postures school textbooks as barometers of corporate faith and prevailing worldview and traces the shift toward secularization in 150 years of publication by Canadian school systems, concluding that the movement begins with the gradual reduction of Christianity to moral veneer (1867-1930) and gathers steam in an accelerated banishment of all things Christian.
Abstract: In this documentary study, the author postures school textbooks as barometers of corporate faith and prevailing worldview He has carefully traced the shift toward secularization in 150 years of publication by Canadian school systems The movement begins with the gradual reduction of Christianity to moral veneer (1867–1930) and then gathers steam in an accelerated banishment of all things Christian Recent movements, however, suggest a renewed search for meaning in the larger society which affords Christian schools rich opportunities for the teaching of faith and Christian values Of the three movements in this documentary study, the first and third represent the author's revision and expansion of sections from two earlier works—“Shifting Perspectives: Early British Columbia Textbooks from 1872 to 1925” (1986) and “The World Portrayed in Texts: An Analysis of the Content of Elementary School Textbooks” (1991)
01 Jun 1994
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the author's comments on the book "Secularisatie in Nederland, 1966-1991," by J.W. Becker and R. Vink, which deals with the issue of secularization in the Netherlands during 1966 to 1991.
Abstract: This article presents the author's comments on the book "Secularisatie in Nederland, 1966-1991. De verandering van opvattingen en enkele gedragingen," by J.W. Becker and R. Vink, which deals with the issue of secularization in the Netherlands during 1966 to 1991. The article makes specific reference to the Social and Cultural planning Office of the Netherlands. The author holds that the report does not say much about results of Christian influence on culture.
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: Culture shift and generational population replacement : Individualization, secularization and moral value change in contemporary Scancinavia.
Abstract: Culture shift and generational population replacement : Individualization, secularization and moral value change in contemporary Scancinavia
TL;DR: Mesopotamian Jewry was a major center of Jewry in terms of both size and cultural vigor for over a millennium as mentioned in this paper, and an abundance of historical sources sheds light on the social structure of the community, until the High Middle Ages.
Abstract: Mesopotamian Jewry is most intriguing. For over a millennium it was a major center of Jewry in terms of both size and cultural vigor. During much of that period Mesopotamian Jewry was in fact the predominant center of the Jewish people, and an abundance of historical sources sheds light on the social structure of the community, until the High Middle Ages. Then, quite abruptly, the community virtually disappears from the historical record, not to reemerge until the eighteenth century. Historians explain this as a result of the havoc that the Mongolian invasion wrought in the thirteenth century. In the nineteenth century the community suddenly undergoes enormous demographic and economic expansion, and blooms as a religio-cultural center. Cultural creativity continues (until again, the sudden demise of the community in 1950), and becomes diversified as a result of a rather unique form of modernization and secularization. Baghdad Jewry produced inter alia literary artists, who depicted both conditions in their land of origin and reflections based on their experience as a result of emigration. But study of this major Jewish society straggles far behind that of other communities, including some that are far less weighty. The present contribution is an attempt to plumb some of the available sources, while raising issues comparable to those that sociologically-oriented historians have raised on other Jewish societies.
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The alarm bells were perhaps first sounded by the Rev. E.H. Dewart in 1878 as mentioned in this paper who concluded that the progress of doubt and unbelief has not been by direct and open assault, but by a slow and steady undermining of the foundation principles of revealed religion.
Abstract: Generations of clergymen in Canada have reached the disquieting conclusion that religion and the churches were being seriously compromised by secular forces – that there has been secularization from within. The alarm bells were perhaps first sounded by the Rev. E.H. Dewart in 1878. This observant editor of the Christian Guardian concluded that the “progress of doubt and unbelief has not been by direct and open assault, but by a slow and steady undermining of the foundation principles of revealed religion.” Secularization of the faith was occurring “within the Church itself,” according to Dewart. By the late-nineteenth century there was growing concern about what was being preached in the church. James Robertson warned the Presbyterian missionaries he recruited for service in the West that “the pulpit was not the place to air one’s thoughts on secular matters.” This concern became more pronounced as the churches became deeply involved in social and political reform. After years of being one of the leading advocates of the social gospel, Rev. S.D. Chown reminded Methodists at the General Conference held in Ottawa in September of 1914 that “the essential thing for the Church to-day to remember is that the Christian life is God inspired and God centred. We have been to a large extent losing the idea, and it has been an immense loss . . . we have been making man, not God the great centre of our spiritual universe.” By the mid 1920s, Canadian clergymen were calling for and attempting to organize spiritual renewal within congregations. Revival was deemed essential to the future of the churches in Canada. The Rev. Richard Roberts,
TL;DR: The authors discuss the erosion of religion as a force in American higher education and argue that students would be better served if faculty members adhered to traditional religious virtues such as faith, humility, self-denial, charity, and friendship.
Abstract: The two books reviewed for this essay discuss the erosion of religion as a force in American higher education. Secularization approaches the issue from a historical, analytical perspective with a plea for the importance of religion’s cultural view on campus issues. Exiles proposes that objectivism is only one approach in the search for knowledge and, further, that students would be better served if faculty members adhered to traditional religious virtues—faith, humility, self-denial, charity, and friendship.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the true content and meaning of Modern History, and therefore of the whole scheme of periodization, rests on the idea that the present is a new period in the history of man, one that is defined by secularism rather than transcendence.
Abstract: The basic proposition of this paper states that the true content and meaning of the term and concept of Modern History, and therefore of the whole scheme of periodization, rests on the idea that the present is a new period in the history of man, one that is defined by secularism rather than transcendence. It is a new time, dominated by forces, intentions, values, outlooks and patterns of culture and public life with respect to man and nature that is motivated by intentionality directed and relating to the world as saeculum. It is a new era {nova aetas) structured on the rejection of the belief in the determining force of transcendence as an actor in history as the idea was formulated in the Bible and in the Augustinian scheme of the two cities. It is a new era that denies the claim of the Church to be the lawgiver and foundation of all values, truth and meaning for man, living in the world, the saeculum, or city of man. It is this inherent connection between modernity and secularism which gives meaning to the triadic scheme of periodization, in particular to the relation between the last two periods, the Middle Ages and modern history. This, because it establishes a dialectical relation of succession between them, emphasizing the radical difference in the outlook of the two periods toward the nature and function of state, church, culture, and society and the purpose of life. The relation between the two periods is characterized by the term secularization. It signifies that the course of modern history is characterized by a process of the steady weakening of the power and the influence of transcendental concepts over state, society, culture, and the structures of life. Secularization connotes emancipation from the authority of the Church as formed and shaped in the Middle Ages and the emergence of independent values, norms, patterns of authority, behavior and knowledge. Our contention consists of two related assertions. First, the accepted periodization of history into three periods, ancient, medieval and modern, and in
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the basic Christian and Catholic explanations of specialgendered personal identity included in the postcouncilian official documents and reveal the symbolic construction of women's marginal and subordinate status.
Abstract: Contemporary processes of social restructuring (particularly in the postsocialist societies) show the tendency of simultaneous revitalization of church activities and of repatriarch lization . Regarding the modern aims of recatholicization, the recognizing of the special role of the Catholic Church concerning gender relationships is undoubtedly justified. The author discusses the basic Christian and Catholic explanations ofspecialgendered personal identity included in the postcouncilian official documents . She reveals the symbolic construction of women's marginal and subordinate status . Particular attention is devoted to women's marginal and subordinate status . Particular attention is devoted to women's dignity. The author's analysis of the `Apostolic Letter on the Dignity of Woman" (Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988) by Pope John Paul II provides a basis for revealing the continuity of interpretations regarding the `proper' role of women in this contemporary document and those traditional explanations which have contributed to the petrification ofandrocentric culture. Finally, the author discusses the results of the latest empirical investigations into gendered secularization in contemporary Slovenian society. Catholic Church, religious revitalization, gender relationships, subordination of women
TL;DR: The starting point of the present intellectual movement is the mass atheism of the preceding period as mentioned in this paper, which is the starting point for the current intellectual movement, and it seems to me that to understand current processes, we must have a clearer idea of the start point of this movement.
Abstract: I should like to supplement somewhat the interpretation of the data presented by D.E. Furman. It seems to me that to understand current processes, we must have a clearer idea of the starting point of the present intellectual movement—the "mass atheism" of the preceding period. What was this mass atheism?
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The dominant trend in Canadian Protestant history from some time during the Victorian era has been the accommodation of the clergy and churches to a society growing more secular, not a march of progress towards the Kingdom of God as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: According to John’s Gospel, Jesus prayed to his Father on behalf of his disciples on the night before his death. A few verses from the account of this prayer may help focus our attention on what has proved to be a slippery problematic indeed, namely, secularization. “They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:16-18 NRSV). In David Marshall’s ambitious book, Secularizing the Faith: Canadian Protestant Clergy and the Crisis of Belief, 1850-1940, he intends to show (in his own words) that “the dominant trend in Canadian Protestant history from some time during the Victorian era has been the accommodation of the clergy and churches to a society growing more secular, not a march of progress towards the Kingdom of God.” He goes on to discuss two of the main denominations in Ontario of the time as, one supposes, indicators of this national Protestant trend. And he finds what he thinks are powerful indicators of this sweeping trend. The question of whether the church becomes too cosy with the world, whether it sells out its identity and mission to an identity and agenda constructed elsewhere, is a perennial and important one. Answering it requires historical and social scientific analysis. I suggest today, though, that it requires more than that – and probably more than most scholars are prepared, at least as scholars, to offer. In brief, I suggest that defining and determining “internal secularization” requires theological