Sociologi: Peter L. Berger 1999
The desecularization of the world: a global overview.
Fundamentalism project: why would the MacArthur Foundation shell out several millions of dollars to support an international study of religious fundamentalists?
Answer: 1) The project was a matter of kowing one´s enemies.
2) the purpose of the project was to delve into this alien world and make it more understandable.
mistakes of secularization theory.
My point is that the assumption that we live in a secularized world is false. The world today is as furiously religious as it ever was.
Modernization necessarily leads to a decline of religion, both in society and in the mind of individuals.
Modernization has had some secularizing effects, but it has also provoked powerfull movements of counter-secularization.
religiously identified institutions can play social or political roles.
rejection and adaptation are two strategies open to religious communities in a world understood to be secularized.
religious revolution: one tries to take over society as a whole and make one´s counter-modern religion obligatory for everyone.
religious subcultures: designed to keep out the influences of the outside society.
If we really lived in a highly secularized world, then religious institutions could be expected to survive to the degree that they manage to adapt to secularity.
But what has in fact occured is taht religious communities has in fact survived and even flourished to the degree that they have NOT tried to adapt themselves to the alleged requirements of a secularized world.
The catholic church vs. modernity.
The trouble with opening windows is, that you can´t control what comes in.
the global religious scene.
conservative, orthodox or traditionalist movements are on the rise almost everywhere.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union there occurred a remarcable revival of the orthodox church in Russia.
What they have in common is their unambiguously religious inspiration.
Counter-secularization is at least as important a phenomenon in the contemporary world as secularization.
Modernity undermines all the old certainties; uncertainty is a condition that many people find very hard to bear; therefore, any movement that promises to provide or to renew certainty has a ready market.
Differences among thriving movements.
The two most dynamic religious upsurges in the world today is the islamic and the evangelical.
Islamic: more immediately obvious political ramifications. An impressive revival of emphatically religious commitments..
+ a restoration, not only of islamic beliefs but of distinctively islamic life-styles.
Islam has had a difficult time coming to terms with key modern institutions, such as pluralism, democracy and the market economy.
Evangelical: the most numerous component within the evangelical upsurge is PENTECOTALISM, which combines biblical orthodoxy and a rigorous morality with an ecstatic form of worship and an emphasis on spiritual healing.
The islamic movements is occurring primarily in countries that are already muslim or among muslim emigrants while the evangelical movement is growing dramatically throughout the world in countries where this type of relgion was previously unknown or very marginal.
Exceptions to the desecularization thesis.
In western europe the old secularization theory would seem to hold.
Church-related behavior - attendance at services of worship, adherence to church-dictated codes of personal behavior.
There is now a massively secular Euro-culture.
One of the most interesting puzzels in the sociologi of religion is why Americans are so much more religious as well as more churchly than Europeans.
There exists an international subculture composed of people with western-type higher education. This subculture is the principal "carrier" of progressive, enlightend beliefs and values.
They control the institutions that provide the official" definitions of reality.
A globalized elite culture.
resurgent religion: origins and prospect.
what are the origins of the worldwide resurgence of religion?
1) modernity tends to undermine the taken-for-granted certainties by which people lived through most of history.
2) a purely secular viewof reality has its principal social location in an elite culture that is resented by large numbers of people who are not part of it but who feel its influence.
Religious movements with a strongly anti-secular bent can therefore appeal to people with resentments that sometimes have quite non-religious sources.
Modern secularity is a much more puzzling phenomenon than all these religious explosions.
What is the likely future course of this religious resurgence?
= there is no reason to think the world of the 21th century will be any less religious than the world is today.
Secularity will triumph.
The most militant islamic movements will find it hard to maintain their present stance modernity.
no one can predict the appearance of charismatic figures who will launch powerful religious movements in unexpected places.
Do the resurgent religions differ in their critique of the secular order?
= yes! of course they do, depending on their particular belief systems.
the critique of secularity: human existence bereft of transcendence is an impoverished and finally untenable condition.
Evangelicals will want to read the bible; this desire encourages litearcy and beyond this a positive attitude toward education and self-improvement.
Evangelical congregations serve as schools for democracy and for social mobility.
religious resurgence and world affairs.
1) international politics.
To the extent that nationalism is an ideologi which is alive and well in a long list of countries.
Distinguish between political movements that are genuinely inspired by religion and those that use religion as a convenient legitimation for political agendas based on quite non-religious interests.
2) war and peace.
Religion in the modern world more often fosters war, both betwen and within nations.
3) economic development.
Max Weber "the protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism"
Something like Weber´s "protestant ethic" is probably functional in an early phase of capitalis growth - whether religiously inspired or not, that values personal discipline, hard work, frugality, and a respect for learning.
If one is to credit the "post-confucian thesis" and also allow that confucianism is a religion, then here would be a very important religious contribution to economic development.
4) human rights and social justice.
Some of the religious institutions have had important political consequenses.
What is justice to some groups is gross injustice to others.
Those who neglect religion in their analyses of contemporary affairs do so at great peril.
Fundamentalism project: why would the MacArthur Foundation shell out several millions of dollars to support an international study of religious fundamentalists?
Answer: 1) The project was a matter of kowing one´s enemies.
2) the purpose of the project was to delve into this alien world and make it more understandable.
mistakes of secularization theory.
My point is that the assumption that we live in a secularized world is false. The world today is as furiously religious as it ever was.
Modernization necessarily leads to a decline of religion, both in society and in the mind of individuals.
Modernization has had some secularizing effects, but it has also provoked powerfull movements of counter-secularization.
religiously identified institutions can play social or political roles.
rejection and adaptation are two strategies open to religious communities in a world understood to be secularized.
religious revolution: one tries to take over society as a whole and make one´s counter-modern religion obligatory for everyone.
religious subcultures: designed to keep out the influences of the outside society.
If we really lived in a highly secularized world, then religious institutions could be expected to survive to the degree that they manage to adapt to secularity.
But what has in fact occured is taht religious communities has in fact survived and even flourished to the degree that they have NOT tried to adapt themselves to the alleged requirements of a secularized world.
The catholic church vs. modernity.
The trouble with opening windows is, that you can´t control what comes in.
the global religious scene.
conservative, orthodox or traditionalist movements are on the rise almost everywhere.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union there occurred a remarcable revival of the orthodox church in Russia.
What they have in common is their unambiguously religious inspiration.
Counter-secularization is at least as important a phenomenon in the contemporary world as secularization.
Modernity undermines all the old certainties; uncertainty is a condition that many people find very hard to bear; therefore, any movement that promises to provide or to renew certainty has a ready market.
Differences among thriving movements.
The two most dynamic religious upsurges in the world today is the islamic and the evangelical.
Islamic: more immediately obvious political ramifications. An impressive revival of emphatically religious commitments..
+ a restoration, not only of islamic beliefs but of distinctively islamic life-styles.
Islam has had a difficult time coming to terms with key modern institutions, such as pluralism, democracy and the market economy.
Evangelical: the most numerous component within the evangelical upsurge is PENTECOTALISM, which combines biblical orthodoxy and a rigorous morality with an ecstatic form of worship and an emphasis on spiritual healing.
The islamic movements is occurring primarily in countries that are already muslim or among muslim emigrants while the evangelical movement is growing dramatically throughout the world in countries where this type of relgion was previously unknown or very marginal.
Exceptions to the desecularization thesis.
In western europe the old secularization theory would seem to hold.
Church-related behavior - attendance at services of worship, adherence to church-dictated codes of personal behavior.
There is now a massively secular Euro-culture.
One of the most interesting puzzels in the sociologi of religion is why Americans are so much more religious as well as more churchly than Europeans.
There exists an international subculture composed of people with western-type higher education. This subculture is the principal "carrier" of progressive, enlightend beliefs and values.
They control the institutions that provide the official" definitions of reality.
A globalized elite culture.
resurgent religion: origins and prospect.
what are the origins of the worldwide resurgence of religion?
1) modernity tends to undermine the taken-for-granted certainties by which people lived through most of history.
2) a purely secular viewof reality has its principal social location in an elite culture that is resented by large numbers of people who are not part of it but who feel its influence.
Religious movements with a strongly anti-secular bent can therefore appeal to people with resentments that sometimes have quite non-religious sources.
Modern secularity is a much more puzzling phenomenon than all these religious explosions.
What is the likely future course of this religious resurgence?
= there is no reason to think the world of the 21th century will be any less religious than the world is today.
Secularity will triumph.
The most militant islamic movements will find it hard to maintain their present stance modernity.
no one can predict the appearance of charismatic figures who will launch powerful religious movements in unexpected places.
Do the resurgent religions differ in their critique of the secular order?
= yes! of course they do, depending on their particular belief systems.
the critique of secularity: human existence bereft of transcendence is an impoverished and finally untenable condition.
Evangelicals will want to read the bible; this desire encourages litearcy and beyond this a positive attitude toward education and self-improvement.
Evangelical congregations serve as schools for democracy and for social mobility.
religious resurgence and world affairs.
1) international politics.
To the extent that nationalism is an ideologi which is alive and well in a long list of countries.
Distinguish between political movements that are genuinely inspired by religion and those that use religion as a convenient legitimation for political agendas based on quite non-religious interests.
2) war and peace.
Religion in the modern world more often fosters war, both betwen and within nations.
3) economic development.
Max Weber "the protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism"
Something like Weber´s "protestant ethic" is probably functional in an early phase of capitalis growth - whether religiously inspired or not, that values personal discipline, hard work, frugality, and a respect for learning.
If one is to credit the "post-confucian thesis" and also allow that confucianism is a religion, then here would be a very important religious contribution to economic development.
4) human rights and social justice.
Some of the religious institutions have had important political consequenses.
What is justice to some groups is gross injustice to others.
Those who neglect religion in their analyses of contemporary affairs do so at great peril.
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