Download or read book A Critical Examination of the Underlying Sociological Theory of Secularization in the West in the Work of Charles Taylor written by German F. McKenzie and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholarly debate on secularization in the West has been largely developed in sociological terms. Two extreme positions in the conversations are those I label as "orthodox" and "counter-orthodox", with several authors taking middle stances. "Orthodox" theorists affirm that modernity necessarily erodes religion, whereas "counter-orthodox" ones --also known as Rational Choice Theorists (RCT)-- see secularization as a self-limiting process within modernity. As the debate between these views has somewhat stalled, other perspectives have caught the interest of researchers. An important contribution among them is that made by Canadian thinker Charles Taylor in his book A Secular Age (2007). This dissertation analyses the sociological basis of Charles Taylor's account of secularization in order to elucidate what new insights he brings to the debate on the issue. It relies on textual analysis of all the pertinent works by Taylor, as well as his classical and contemporary sociological influences. As a sociological framework, it relies on the scholarship of British sociologist Margaret Archer, particularly on her views about the relationship between social and cultural structures and human agency, as well as about social change. My claim is that it is possible to uncover a consistent "Taylorean sociology" in his work. This particular sociological approach finds its roots in Taylor's philosophical anthropology, his critique of mainstream social science, his position on the problem of human agency in sociology, and his affirmation of the inextricable linkage between the social and cultural realms. In this light, secularization in the West is better understood as the change of religion due to social movement dynamics which relocates the place of religion in society and in individual experience. This change has entailed the decline of some religious forms and the appearance of new ones, a process which is not linear but more of a zigzag-shape. In spite of some shortcomings, Taylorean sociology's account of religious change is consistent with an important body of empirical data. It supersedes important theoretical and methodological problems within "orthodox" and RCT-inspired explanations. In regard to the former, this is not surprising since such views have been marginalized by the most part of scholars today. However, in regard to the latter, criticisms advanced by Taylorean sociology are more interesting because of RCT's prevalence, particularly in North America's scholarship. Among the most important of them, is the inadequacy of considering structures as closed systems --something crucial for RCT, the diminished role given to cultural structures as compared to that of social structures in religious change, and the inadequacy of RCT's view of religious choice as one between options that appear before the human agent all at the same time and in a clear fashion. Among the new paths opened by Taylorean sociology for the study of secularization, the more important are its integration of human agency and structure, and its focus on our contemporary conditions of belief, particularly its view of the "immanent frame" as our given cultural context in the West, the notion of a continuum that goes between exclusive humanism and transformative religion, two extreme positions which fragilize each other and between which a myriad of unstable intermediate positions that are taken by many Westerners.
Download or read book Interpreting Charles Taylor s Social Theory on Religion and Secularization written by Germán McKenzie and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-22 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines “Taylorean social theory,” its sources, main characteristics and impact. Charles Taylor’s meta-narrative of secularization in the West, prominently contained in his major work A Secular Age (2007), has brought new insight on the social and cultural factors that intervened in such process, the role of human agency, and particularly on the contemporary conditions of belief in North America and Europe. This study discusses what Taylor’s approach has brought to the scholarly debate on Western secularization, which has been carried on mostly in sociological terms. McKenzie interprets Taylor’s views in a way that offers an original social theory. Such interpretation is possible with the help of sociologist Margaret Archer’s “morphogenetic theory” and by making the most of Taylor’s particular understanding of the method of the social sciences and of his philosophical views on human beings, knowledge and modernity. After exploring the philosophical and sociological sources informing Taylorean social theory and proposing its basic concepts and hermeneutic guidelines, the author compares it with two widespread theories of secularization: the now waning “orthodox” account and that proposed by Rational Choice Theory scholars, particularly prevalent in the United States. In doing so, the book shows in which ways Taylorean social theory supersedes them, what new issues it brings into the scholarly discussion, and what difficulties might limit its future development.
Download or read book A Secular Age written by Charles Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-17 with total page 889 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The place of religion in society has changed profoundly in the last few centuries, particularly in the West. In what will be a defining book for our time, Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean, and what, precisely, happens when a society becomes one in which faith is only one human possibility among others.
Download or read book Working with A Secular Age written by Florian Zemmin and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Taylor’s monumental book A Secular Age has been extensively discussed, criticized, and worked on. This volume, by contrast, explores ways of working with Taylor’s book, especially its potentials and limits for individual research projects. Due to its wide reception, it has initiated a truly interdisciplinary object of study; with essays drawn from various research fields, this volume fosters substantial conversation across disciplines.
Download or read book Beyond the Secular West written by Akeel Bilgrami and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-22 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the character of secularism in countries that were not pervaded by Christianity, such as China, India, and the nations of the Middle East? To what extent is the secular an imposition of colonial rule? How does secularism comport with local religious cultures in Africa, and how does it work with local forms of power and governance in Latin America? Has modern secularism evolved organically, or is it even necessary, and has it always meant progress? A vital extension of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, in which he exhaustively chronicled the emergence of secularism in Latin Christendom, this anthology applies Taylor's findings to secularism's global migration. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Rajeev Bhargava, Akeel Bilgrami, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Sudipta Kaviraj, Claudio Lomnitz, Alfred Stepan, Charles Taylor, and Peter van der Veer each explore the transformation of Western secularism beyond Europe, and the collection closes with Taylor's response to each essay. What began as a modern reaction to—as well as a stubborn extension of—Latin Christendom has become a complex export shaped by the world's religious and political systems. Brilliantly alternating between intellectual and methodological approaches, this volume fosters a greater engagement with the phenomenon across disciplines.
Download or read book The Decline of Established Christianity in the Western World written by Paul Silas Peterson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-22 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Church attendance in the West is often cited as being in decline, it is argued that this applies primarily to the older established forms of Christianity. Other expressions of the faith are, in fact, stable or even growing. This volume provides multidisciplinary interpretations of and responses to one of the most complicated and controversial issues regarding the global transformation of Christianity today: the decline of "established Christianity" in the Western world. It also addresses the future of Christianity in the West after the decline. Drawing upon historical research, sociology, religious studies, philosophy and theology, an international panel of contributors provide new theoretical frameworks for understanding this decline and offer creative suggestions for responding to it. "Established Christianity" is conceptualized as historically, culturally, socially and politically embedded religion (with or without official established status). This is a dynamic volume that gives fresh perspective on one of the great social changes taking place in the West today. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of religious sociology, history and anthropology, as well as theologians.
Download or read book A Secular Age written by Charles Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-20 with total page 894 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taylor takes up the question of what happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
Download or read book Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age written by Michael Warner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-04 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÒWhat does it mean to say that we live in a secular age?Ó This apparently simple question opens into the massive, provocative, and complex A Secular Age, where Charles Taylor positions secularism as a defining feature of the modern world, not the mere absence of religion, and casts light on the experience of transcendence that scientistic explanations of the world tend to neglect. In Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, a prominent and varied group of scholars chart the conversations in which A Secular Age intervenes and address wider questions of secularism and secularity. The distinguished contributors include Robert Bellah, Jos Casanova, Nilfer Gle, William E. Connolly, Wendy Brown, Simon During, Colin Jager, Jon Butler, Jonathan Sheehan, Akeel Bilgrami, John Milbank, and Saba Mahmood. Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age succeeds in conveying to readers the complexity of secularism while serving as an invaluable guide to a landmark book.
Download or read book Sources of the Self written by Charles Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1992-03-01 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this extensive inquiry into the sources of modern selfhood, Charles Taylor demonstrates just how rich and precious those resources are. The modern turn to subjectivity, with its attendant rejection of an objective order of reason, has led—it seems to many—to mere subjectivism at the mildest and to sheer nihilism at the worst. Many critics believe that the modern order has no moral backbone and has proved corrosive to all that might foster human good. Taylor rejects this view. He argues that, properly understood, our modern notion of the self provides a framework that more than compensates for the abandonment of substantive notions of rationality. The major insight of Sources of the Self is that modern subjectivity, in all its epistemological, aesthetic, and political ramifications, has its roots in ideas of human good. After first arguing that contemporary philosophers have ignored how self and good connect, the author defines the modern identity by describing its genesis. His effort to uncover and map our moral sources leads to novel interpretations of most of the figures and movements in the modern tradition. Taylor shows that the modern turn inward is not disastrous but is in fact the result of our long efforts to define and reach the good. At the heart of this definition he finds what he calls the affirmation of ordinary life, a value which has decisively if not completely replaced an older conception of reason as connected to a hierarchy based on birth and wealth. In telling the story of a revolution whose proponents have been Augustine, Montaigne, Luther, and a host of others, Taylor’s goal is in part to make sure we do not lose sight of their goal and endanger all that has been achieved. Sources of the Self provides a decisive defense of the modern order and a sharp rebuff to its critics.
Download or read book Bringing Order to the Mess A Critical Re examination of the Core Concepts of Secularization Theory written by Matthias Deininger and published by . This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Religion, grade: 6 (entspricht 1 in Dtschld.), University of Bern, course: Religionssoziologie, language: English, abstract: Despite Rodney Stark s postulate "to carry the secularization doctrine to the graveyard of failed theories" (Stark 1999:22) or David Martin s demand "towards eliminating the concept of secularization" (Martin 1965), the discourse on secularization seems to be as alive as ever. Indeed, from its beginnings to present the idea of secularization lies at the very core of sociological imagination. Hardly any other subject caused as much controversy among scholars as to if and how processes of secularization interrelate with the emergence of "modernity." This has led to a multitude of publications over the last decades, all redefining, defending, refuting or even rejecting secularization theory altogether. One of the main difficulties resulting from this ever expanding literature on secularization is the diverse and often undifferentiated usage of categories such as "the secular," "secularization" and "secularism." Similar to other social-scientific macro concepts the term "secularization" is multidimensional. Depending on the context and academic discipline, it is applied very differently, thus leaving the door wide open for manifold possibilities of interpretations and meanings. This especially poses problems to any empirical researcher; as such an amorphous term with respectively different meanings and ambiguous possibilities of interpretation is hard to operationalize (Casanova 1994: 12). The aim of this paper is therefore, to critically review the main concepts of secularization theory. For this purpose, I will analytically distinguish between "the secular" as a theological category of Western Christendom, "secularization" as a historical process referring to state-church relations and "secularization" as an analytical conceptualization of modern world-historical processes. By doing so,
Download or read book Powers of the Secular Modern written by David Scott and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a set of critical engagements by writers from a variety of disciplines with the work of noted anthropologist Talal Asad.
Download or read book Rethinking Secularism written by Craig Calhoun and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays presents groundbreaking work from an interdisciplinary group of leading theorists and scholars representing the fields of history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and anthropology. The volume will introduce readers to some of the most compelling new conceptual and theoretical understandings of secularism and the secular, while also examining socio-political trends involving the relationship between the religious and the secular from a variety of locations across the globe. In recent decades, the public has become increasingly aware of the important role religious commitments play in the cultural, social, and political dynamics of domestic and world affairs. This so called ''resurgence'' of religion in the public sphere has elicited a wide array of responses, including vehement opposition to the very idea that religious reasons should ever have a right to expression in public political debate. The current global landscape forces scholars to reconsider not only once predominant understandings of secularization, but also the definition and implications of secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a range of multiple secularisms, is one of many emerging efforts to reconceptualize the meanings of religion and the secular. Rethinking Secularism surveys these efforts and helps to reframe discussions of religion in the social sciences by drawing attention to the central issue of how ''the secular'' is constituted and understood. It provides valuable insight into how new understandings of secularism and religion shape analytic perspectives in the social sciences, politics, and international affairs.
Download or read book The Constitutive Role of Religion in Understanding Western Secularity and Self written by Peter Susaimanickam and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Sociology of Secularisation written by Peter E. Glasner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1977-01-01 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Toward a Theory of Secularization written by Richard K. Fenn and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sex and Secularism written by Joan Wallach Scott and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Drawing on a wealth of scholarship by second-wave feminists and historians of religion, race, and colonialism, Scott shows that the gender equality invoked today as a fundamental and enduring principle was not originally associated with the term "secularism" when it first entered the lexicon in the nineteenth century. In fact, the inequality of the sexes was fundamental to the articulation of the separation of church and state that inaugurated Western modernity. Scott points out that Western nation-states imposed a new order of women's subordination, assigning them to a feminized familial sphere meant to complement the rational masculine realms of politics and economics. It was not until the question of Islam arose in the late twentieth century that gender equality became a primary feature of the discourse of secularism"-- Publisher's description
Download or read book A General Theory of Secularization written by David Martin and published by . This book was released on 1978-01-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: