Section 1: What is Religion? Essay: "Tilting at Windmills: Defining and Predicting Religion" Readings: Defining Religion Asad, Talal. 1993. "The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category." From Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam, 27-54. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. This classic essay challenges Clifford Geertz’s famous definition of religion, and suggests that the concept of religion itself may be a social construct that is fundamentally shaped by Western, Christian assumptions. McGuire, Meredith B. 2008. "Contested Meanings and Definitional Boundaries: Historicizing the Sociology of Religion." From Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life, 19-44. New York: Oxford University Press. This essay recounts some of the history of the concept of religion, and argues that sociologists should be paying greater attention to the concept of lived religion rather than focusing primarily on official religions. Imagining Religion’s Future Berger, Peter L. 1967. Selections from The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, 106-111, 125-128. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. These selections from Berger’s classic book present the secularization thesis that was dominant in the sociology of religion throughout much of the twentieth century. Warner, R. Stephen. 1993. Selections from "Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States." American Journal of Sociology 98(5): 1044-46, 1074-93. Warner’s classic "new paradigm" essay describes a movement away from secularization theory among some sociologists of religion. Warner suggests that a "new paradigm" of religious change is growing in the field. Berger, Peter L. 1999. "The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview." In Peter L. Berger, ed. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics, 1-18. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans. As if in reply to Warner’s essay, Berger began in the 1990s to openly renounce his allegiance to secularization theory. This essay offers a clear explanation of his decision. Bruce, Steve. 2001. "The Curious Case of the Unnecessary Recantation: Berger and Secularization." In Linda Woodhead, ed. Peter Berger and the Study of Religion, 87-100. Not all sociologists of religion have taken on Warner’s new paradigm. Some, particularly in Europe, continue to believe that European societies are becoming permanently secular. Steve Bruce is an important proponent of secularization theory, and in this essay he lays out his support for the theory, countering Berger’s arguments against it. Heelas, Paul and Linda Woodhead. 2005. Selections from "Bringing the Sacred to Life: Explaining Sacralization and Secularization." From The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality, 77-82, 94-110, 123-128. London: Blackwell. Heelas and Woodhead offer another perspective on religious change in Europe, suggesting that there has been a shift from "life-as religion," or ascribed and dogmatic religion, to "subjective-life spirituality," or a more personalized, negotiated form of religious belief and practice. Section 2: Religion and Social Institutions Essay: "Religion, State, and Nation" Readings: Religion, State, and Law Ashiwa, Yoshiko. 2009. "Positioning Religion in Modernity: State and Buddhism in China." In Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, eds. Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China, 43-70. Ashiwa’s article traces the complicated relationship between Buddhism and the Chinese state over the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Hann, Chris and Mathijs Pelkmans. 2009. "Realigning Religion and Power in Central Asia: Islam, Nation-State and (Post)Socialism." Europe-Asia Studies 61(9):1517-1541. Hann and Pelkmans’ study of Islam in several central Asian states dovetails nicely with Ashiwa’s piece, offering not only a perspective on the role of religion in two former Soviet republics but also an analysis of the relationship between Muslims in Western China and the Chinese state. Religion and the Nation Bellah, Robert N. 1967. "Civil Religion in America." Daedalus 96(1):1-21. Bellah’s classic essay on civil religion sparked the interest and curiosity of many scholars of religion. Written during the U.S. war in Vietnam, this piece concludes with a consideration of the U.S. culture’s response to what Bellah calls a "third time of trial." Long, Charles H. 1995. "Civil Rights-Civil Religion: Visible People and Invisible People." From Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion, 161-168, 170. Aurora, Co.: The Davies Group. Just as many scholars of religion have found the concept of civil religion helpful in pondering the relationship between religion and the nation, so too others have leveled powerful critiques against the concept. In this essay, Charles Long asks who is actually included in the civil religion of a country built on the backs of slaves. Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2008. "The Militant Christian Right in the United States." From Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State, from Christian Militias to al Qaeda, 182-192. Berkeley: University of California Press. Nationalism can take many forms, and one of those forms believes in the necessity of a theocratic future for the U.S. Juergensmeyer’s study introduces the reader to some of these movements. Skya, Walter A. 2009. "Conclusion." From Japan’s Holy War: The Ideology of Radical Shinto Ultranationalism, 297-328. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. Skya explores the connections between religion and nationalism in early twentieth-century Japan, up to and including the Second World War. Though he does not mention civil religion, his analysis bears a striking resemblance to Bellah’s concept, raising the possibility that civil religion can be just as dangerous as, to Bellah, it is powerful. Section 3: Religion and Social Power Essay: "Religion, Oppression, and Resistance" Readings: Theorizing Religion and Power Marx, Karl. [1844] 1986. Introduction, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law. Reprinted in Jon Elster, ed. Karl Marx: A Reader, 301-302. New York: Cambridge University Press. This selection is Marx’s classic statement on religion – required reading for anyone seeking to understand the connections between religion and social power. Du Bois, W.E.B. [1903] 1995. "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" and "Of the Faith of the Fathers." From The Souls of Black Folk, ed. Randal Kenan, 43-53, 210-225. New York: Signet Classics. An early sociologist with a strong interest in Black cultures in the U.S., Du Bois offers a perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of religion in resisting the powerful forces of slavery and racism. Medina, Lara. 2006. "Nepantla Spirituality: Negotiating Multiple Religious Identities among U.S. Latinas." In Miguel A. de la Torre and Gastón Espinosa, eds., Rethinking Latino(a) Religion and Identity, 248-266. Cleveland, Oh. : Pilgrim Press. The Nahuatl word nepantla refers to a middle space. Medina uses this concept to theorize the lived religions of Latinas and their ancestors, blended religions that often exist en nepantla, or in the middle, between at least two official, or established, religions. Enacting Religion and Power Brown, Karen McCarthy. 1991. Selections from Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, 109-133. Berkeley: University of California Press. This selection from Brown’s classic study of Vodou examines the ways in which Vodou practice and beliefs affect a Haitian-American family’s dealings with the racism and xenophobia of the state. Mahmood, Saba. 2005. "Agency, Gender, and Embodiment." From Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, 153-188. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Mahmood’s excellent study of conservative Muslim women in Egypt led her to question Western feminist
