This course is designed to introduce students to social theories of religion. The study of religion was central to such original, theoretical work as Emile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religion (1904) and Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5). The first part of the course will involve a close reading of selections from these classics, which will be followed by a consideration of contemporary theorists whose works have critically engaged, revised, and extended their approach to the study of religion.
This course will address some fundamental questions and debates in the social-scientific study of religion, such as: How do scholars determine what constitutes religion? What counts as data in the study of religion? How are these data collected, analysed, and interpreted? What is religious experience and how does one study it? How do institutional expressions of religion change over time? How does the understanding of “religion” vary from culture to culture or even between individuals and groups within one society? Is religion in decline today or simply changing form?
These questions will be critically engaged through a consideration of the theoretical and empirical work of contemporary scholars studying religion in various regions of the world. Readings and case studies will address the central debate surrounding secularization and consider some other key topics that occupy social scientists today. These include the rise of global fundamentalisms and new religious movements, religious nationalisms, immigration and the revitalization of religion in diaspora communities, and debates surrounding civil religion and the role of religion in the public sphere. The course will also consider the recent shift in the field from a focus on “official religion,” or religious organizations, to the study of religion in everyday life, which occurs outside of these institutions.