Sociological Theory and the Question of Religion

List of Contributors Religion in Sociology's Core Classics Recent Developments in British Sociology of Religion The Current Volume References I. The State of the Art and Science of the Sociology of Religion Thinking Sociologically about Religion: A Step Change in the Debate?Evidence of Change New Initiatives New Questions References What Sort of Social Theory Would Benefit the Sociology of Religion?Introduction The Nature of Social Theory Theory in the Study of Religion What Sort of Theory Should We Use?Conclusion References II. History and Religion The Axial Age Religions: The Debate and its Legacy for Contemporary Sociology Introduction: Classical Sociology of Religion Karl Jaspers, Max Weber and the Axial Age Weber, Universalism and China Conclusion: A Future for the Sociology of Religion?References Hope and Religion Introduction The Supernatural, Ritual and Uncertainty The Hereafter and its Rewards The Dialectic of the Popular and the Erudite Latin America: The Dialectic Transcended in a Time of Both Religious Revival and Secularization The Secularization of Religious Reason in Liberation Theology The Dialectic Transcended: Beyond Popular Religion Exchange in a Secularized Religious Setting Ritual Promiscuity Saying the Unsaid References The Sacramental Mechanism: Religion and the Civilizing Process in Christian Western Europe with Particular Reference to the Peace of God Movement and its Aftermath Religion and the Civilizing Process The Civilizing Process Pax Dei and its Reverberations The Sacramental Mechanism and the Prohibition of Violence Conclusion Acknowledgments References III. Religion and Modernity Religion and Monetary Culture in the Sociology of Georg Simmel Introduction Money/Religion Complex Money/Society Equation Simmel's Concept of Religion God as a Symbol of Society Simmel and Durkheim God/Money Equation Mammonism Capitalism as Religion Acknowledgement References Putting Baby Back in the Bath: Theorising Modernity for the Contemporary Sociology of Religion The Problem at Hand Modernity in the Dock Multiple Modernities Deproblematising Modernity Putting Baby Back in the Bath Conclusion References IV. Ethnographies of Listening to Churches: aesthetics and rationality Playing the Sensual Card in Churches: Studying the Aestheticization of Religion Introduction A Broad Perspective on the Aestheticization of Religion Studying Multimodal Religion Christmas Concerts: An Evocative Ritual Aestheticization: The Social Context Different Situations Call for Different Methodological Sensitivities Brief Concluding Remarks References Listening Subjects, Rationality and Modernity Listening, Meaning and Modernity Learning to Listen Listening as the Practice of Rationality Conclusion Acknowledgements References V. Power, Gender and Discourse Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Sociology of Religion Critical Sociology of Religion and the Importance of Discourse Understanding Discourse Being Critical The Embeddedness of Discourse Critical Discourse Analysis in the Sociology of Religion Opium of the People - and More Religion as Legitimate Identity The Discursive Dialectics of Secularisation Conclusion References Beyond Habitus: Researching Gender and Religion through the Ontology of Social Relations Bourdieu and Gender Feminist Critique of Masculine Domination Beyond Structure and Agency: Critical Hermeneutics in the Study of Religion and Gender Studying Religion and Gender with (and against) Bourdieu Towards an Ontology of Social Relations in the Study of Gender and Religion References